Zeppo: Halo
by Anubis1
Summary: Halloween crossover. Xander dresses up as the Master Chief from Halo and gets in all sorts of trouble. Xander Faith pairing in later chapters. BTVS, Jurassic Park, Halo & SG1 crossover eventually.
1. Chapter 1

Zeppo no more.

Xander and Faith crossover

Hi all. This is going to be my second story. It will hopefully live up to the standard expected from me. As always if anyone has any complaints or suggestions please feel free to post a review. I will take any and all under advisement. I need all the help I can get, lol.

Ok as always if you don't know this will be an AU. It takes place after Halloween in the BTVS universe. Xander dressed up as a Spartan from Halo, since I don't know everything about Halo I will only be taking the most basic ideas from the game, everything else I'm either making it up as I go or stealing from other locations.

I will be crossing over with Stargate SG-1 but only to about mid 4th season. Also a few minor crossover bits with Jurassic park but that's going to be very minor compared to the other bits.

Standard Disclaimer: I do not or have I ever owned any of the shows or books or movies involved within this story. I have merely borrowed them for my own enjoyment. Don't bother suing me I don't make enough for it to be worthwhile. Have a nice day and enjoy the story.

Chapter 1.

Alexander 'Xander' Harris was scared out of his mind. He had just regained control of his own body, which he could just say was a freaky experience. To be locked up inside your own mind not being able to do anything as someone else took your body out for a joyride was extremely freaky! Now here he was standing in the middle of Sunnydale's warehouse district with what looked like dozens of little dust piles around him, and he was inside a suit of MJOLNIR armor.

"Ok what the hell is going! Xander yelled out into the night not really expecting an answer but guess what, he got one.

"Well if I would have to guess, you're the real owner of the body that the Master Chief was in possession of and now you've reclaimed it somehow." Replied a voice.

"What, who are you?"

"I am Cortana."

"But you're just a fictional character in a game, how the hell can you be here?"

"During the night I asked that same question of a Miss Rosenburg. She informed me that you dressed up as the Master Chief and were turned into him due to a spell being cast on you. Now since I am an artificial life form, my being here could be because the spell was not designed to create life. Since I am here the suit would need to remain real for me to stay alive, for the suit to remain there would need to be a Spartan. And for you to live when the spell was broken you would need to also remain as a Spartan."

"Wait, your telling me that I'm a Spartan now?"

"Yes."

"Oh, god kill me now. Am I still even human?"

"Spartan's are enhanced humans. You have artificial implants throughout your body, but that does not diminish your humanity if that's what your worried about."

"Well now what do we do."

Cortana thought about this for a few seconds, nearly an eternity to an AI, before replying. "I think we should find a more secure location and then we shall discuss our options."

Xander quickly agreed with that. He slowly moved towards what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. Once inside and determining that there was no one around he quickly got down to discussing plans with Cortana. Xander learned that night of all the changes done to him by the spell. Thousands of little nanites were inside his body altering his body to the standards of Spartan. Biotech armor incased every one of his bones making them nearly impossible to break by normal human strength, biosensors fitted underneath the skin to increase his awareness of his surroundings. Muscular and tissue enhancement to allow his body to accept said changes, neural feeds to allow for direct interface with his armors computers. Longevity implants to increase his lifespan from one terrain century to nearly six, along with a variety of other implants to increase combat capability. After explaining all of the changes that were happening to him, Cortana asked him what his plans were.

"Well, I can't really go up to Buffy and tell her what's happening. She'll think I'm possessed again and try to do a spell to remove all the implants, which would probably kill me. So I guess I find a nice little base of operations and start hunting on my own. You up for it?"

"You're asking me?" Cortana responded, a little surprised. She had never thought that he would ask her.

Xander responded. "Ya, I can go it alone but I was kinda hoping that you come along and help me."

"Oh, I'm in. I am an UNSC AI I have a duty to protect mankind and I guess hunting demons does fall under that heading."

"Good, now I just gotta find a way to make this suit not stick out like a sore thumb at night. Anyway to make it a different color? Green is not exactly stealthy for hunting at night."

"There is a nanobot-weave designed into the skin of the armor for different environments, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to switch it over to a all black color. But you have to remember, all of the suits functions are dependant on technology that doesn't exist in this time, we will have to come up with someway of repairing the suit."

"We'll figure that out tomorrow. Right now I just wanna get home and get a good night sleep."

With that Xander began a slow jog through the streets of Sunnydale, taking care to avoid the main streets in an effort not to get seen. It wouldn't do for some passing yokel to put out a picture in the paper of a suit of MJOLNIR armor jogging down main street now would it? After about ten minutes Xander arrived home to find his parents passed out drunk in the living room. He quickly and quietly made his way down to the basement, his parents having decided last month that his room would make a perfect place to store their crap. After stripping off the armor carefully, he then removed the tiny sphere that contained Cortana from her place in the armor.

"What are you doing? She asked.

"Well I thought you might want to plug into the internet. I don't know if you need sleep or recharging so I thought you might want to roam the net while I slept so you don't get bored."

Cortana said "Oh. I guess I could look around, see if I can find some equipment that could assist us in your little crusade against the demons, or in repairing the armor."

Xander took a few moments to figure out how, with Cortana's instruction, to hook her up to the net but once that was he down he said good night and quickly fell asleep. All night long he was plagued by nightmares of John-117's training and flashbacks of missions he had gone on.

While Xander slept, Cortana began to roam far and wide throughout the internet. What she found disappointed her, most of the programs that would lead to the development of the Spartan program didn't even exist. She quickly found and began to raid drug cartel's bank accounts throughout the world, telling herself that the money she took would be used for the betterment of mankind. With these funds she quickly began purchasing equipment and resources that she could use to build a true base of operations for herself and Xander, though it would take time.

In the morning, Xander quietly went upstairs trying to avoid waking his deadbeat parents. Once upstairs he raided the kitchen for something to eat. After eating his fill, he went back downstairs to see what he should be doing today to help get the armor back up to full combat status or to even see if Cortana wanted to do something. Though what an AI could do without a true body stumped him.

"Morning Cortana, did you have a good time out in the net last night?"

"Good morning Xander, and yes I did. Thank you for suggesting it last night. I have procured items and equipment that will be of great use to us."

"Wait a minute, how can you 'procure' anything? You need money to do that and I know for a fact that you don't have any." Xander responded.

"Well, I kinda stole all the money from various drug cartels from around the world."

"What! Are you insane? If they find us, which they probably can cause they can bribe the FBI to track us, I'm a dead man!"

Cortana spoke with a wounded tone. "Hmmph, you really think some 20th century hacker is going to be able to trace me?"

"You mean they can't?"

"Of course not. I am an AI after all. The money was wire transferred through a few thousand banks across the world; it'll take them years to find it. Also I managed to dump every record contained within the cartels computers straight into the DEA's central mainframe. That should put quite a crimp in their operations for quite some time. They'll be too busy to even attempt to come after us. Now hurry up and get dressed in some clean clothes. We got a lot to do today."

Xander stood there quite stunned before turning to do as he was directed. After getting dressed, Cortana told him to head for the industrial park of Sunnydale. It seemed that while she was busy robbing the drug cartels, she had also been busy buying some real estate. She had bought a whole block of abandoned warehouses down near the outskirts of town. Only one of them would actually be used but the rest were bought to hide the fact that he would be using one of the others as a base for his demon hunting.

When he arrived at what was to be his new base, Xander looked at the rundown shell of a building. It would take a lot of work to get this place ready for action. Though it did seem to be the perfect place to build his base camp. The warehouse was about 500 feet long and maybe the same length wide. Standing nearly three stories tall as well. The inside was nearly empty except for some old railway containers, which were falling apart.

Xander nearly yelled. "You want me to live here?"

"Well it could use a little fixing up but yes I do."

"God, this place is falling apart. Hell, my house is in better shape than this place!"

"True, though you do not own your house. You do though own this warehouse. Its registered in your name."

Before Xander could answer there was the sound of a massive truck pulling into the loading dock of the warehouse. Xander went to investigate the sound and found four other trucks pulling into the loading dock. He went over to the first one, since the driver had already gotten out. But before he had a chance to say anything the drive spoke.

"Are you Alex Harris?"

"Um, yes I am." He replied in a confused tone.

"Sign here." With that the driver produced a worn old clipboard with a shipping manifest on it. Xander signed it only to have four other's placed in front of him from the other drivers. Once they were all signed the drivers asked him if he could open up the loading bay doors so that they could start unloading all of his property from their trucks. Even as this was happening other vehicles were pulling up beside the warehouse. Carpenters, plumbers, electricians and even some home decoration guys.

Xander spoke in a low tone so that only Cortana could hear him. "Uh what the hell is going on here?"

"Well I knew that you would complain about the state of the warehouse so I made a few calls to spruce the place up. Its surprising how many people are willing to keep their mouths shut if you say money is no object."

He just stood there stunned. The work crew that apparently Cortana had hired quickly went to work. The warehouse was quickly cleaned top to bottom. Walls were reinforced with concrete, floors laid in the old office areas to make it into a nice 3 apartment inside. The apartment inside took up only a fraction of the warehouse; the rest of the area was quickly filled up with all the equipment that Cortana had ordered over the net. He didn't even know what most of it did, but some of it did resemble the manufacturing line of a car factory, though why he would need that was beyond him for the moment.

After a good twelve-hour day with workers coming to him for orders, which Cortana whispered into his ear through the neural interface, the building began to look entirely different. It finally did look like a place that he could actually use as a base of operations. Though he did have one small change put in, in a small-reinforced internal garage he had a hydraulic jack system installed that would rotate a platform that a car would sit on. He insisted that if it was good enough for Batman then it was good enough for him too, Cortana called him an idiot for it but eventually gave in and let him have it.

Once all the workers had left for the day, Cortana went to work on interfacing with the equipment and computers to begin reconfiguring the machines into something approaching 24th century technology. While Cortana did this, Xander went back home to get his armor and anything else that he wanted to bring with him. Well actually he was ordered to go get it and stop pestering her.

Xander was enjoying the new car that Cortana had managed to find on of all places, E-bay. She couldn't find or build at this time a warthog so she decided to improvise and bought a civilian model Hummer. She had informed Xander that she would be making a lot of modifications to the Hummer as soon as she could get all of the equipment up to her standards, but until then Xander was blasting through town at nearly 100 miles an hour. After grabbing everything that he needed or wanted from his parent's house he quickly returned to what would be his new home, the warehouse.

Xander was thinking quite hard when walked up to the computer terminal that Cortana was currently interfaced with. "You know we should come up with a cool name for our base, I mean Batman called his the Batcave, maybe we should call ours the Halo House."

Cortana didn't even stop her work as she replied. "That's gotta be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. Batman is a fictional character in a comic book. We should just call this place home, or if you insist on giving it a 'cool' name we could call it Alpha base.

Xander had looked a little dejected when Cortana replied but rapidly recovered when she suggested her own name for the base. "Alpha base it is, but I guess home has a nice ring to it as well."

"Good, though this isn't going to be our only base. As soon as I can get enough 24th century equipment online I'll start on plans for a more permanent and secure base of operations. This will do until then."

"Ok, I'm going to go hangout with the gang at the library and see if there's anything bad coming up on the horizon for us to watch out for." Xander said this as he quickly grabbed his jacket and began walking out of the warehouse.

"Ok, don't get yourself killed!" Cortana yelled to him as he walked away.

Sunnydale High School Library.

It took Xander all of twenty minutes to make his way to the school after leaving his new home. Once there he could see that Buffy was in another one of her little moods over the fact that Giles was informing her that she had to patrol tonight.

"But Giles! There's a live band playing at the Bronze tonight and I really wanted to go." She pouted hoping it would gain her some points.

It didn't work. Giles spoke in a semi-stern voice. "Buffy, you are the chosen one. You have a scared duty to protect the people of the town. You have to patrol to insure that you are always ready."

"Don't worry Buffy, I'll come with you. Keep all those bad vampires away from you." Her best friend Willow spoke up in an attempt to cheer her up.

"Thanks Willow. C'mon lets get going. Maybe we can catch the end of the band if we hurry." With that both Buffy and Willow grabbed a few stakes and walked out of the library almost running into Xander.

"Oh hey Xander, almost didn't see you there." Willow said.

"Heya Buffster, Wills. Heading out for a night of slayage? I'll join ya."

Buffy said. "Xander that's really not necessary, it's a slow night. You should just stay here and help Giles research. Oh and get donuts, we need donuts for when we get back, ok?"

Before he could even respond to that both of the girls had walked out and away from the library. Xander stuck around for a few hours after they had left, silently reading as many of the research books as he could, scanning them into a small computer core whenever Giles' back was turned. He would have to remember to come back sometime when Giles wasn't there to really get a good scan on the books. After scanning as many as he could Xander left to go back to 'Alpha base' or as it was coming to be known in his head, home.

On the other side of the country Kendra was having an extremely tough time against a vastly more powerful enemy. Every trick she had tried had ended in failure. This new enemy was protected by some sort of magical shield around him that prevented her from just shooting him with a crossbow. She had been on his trail for months, ever since she had heard of his cult following. This 'Seth' cult would brainwash young naïve children to do his bidding and when the authorities over the centuries attempted to stop him he would massacre the children and vanish only to reappear a few years later doing the same thing all over again.

"Die Demon!" Kendra shouted at him.

"Foolish mortal, bow before your god!"

Kendra charged at him, attempting to bowl him over. To her surprise it worked, it seemed his magic shield did not prevent her from getting close. Before he could react she attempted to shove her knife through his heart. Her knife glanced off some sort of armor he was wearing under his robes. As she tried to shift to knife him in the head or neck he grabbed her neck and quickly twisted it at a sharp angle. The last thing Kendra saw was her opponent's eyes glowing a hot demonic white.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

Xander had just returned home to his converted warehouse. Inside he found dozens of machines that hadn't been there when he left. One of those machines towered above the rest at nearly twelve feet tall by ten feet wide. It would seem that Cortana had been extremely busy since he had left. A few of the other machines looked as if they would be at home inside a car manufacturing plant, a futuristic one, and were busy making a few pieces that he recognized as MJOLNIR armor.

"Hey honey, I'm home." Xander yelled into the interior of the warehouse as he slowly made his way towards the apartment area of his new home.

"Don't yell. I can hear you just fine." Came Cortana's disembodied voice.

"Um, just what are you doing anyway?"

"I just finished getting a small MJOLNIR armor plant online. It should be able to provide us with replacement parts for your armor as long as you don't bust it up to much."

"Sweet. What about weapons?"

"That's going to take a little longer. Since they're no Covenant warriors around to fight, I don't think you'll need some of the weapons, but you might have a few problems. From what you sent back via that comp core vampires seem to have a lot of natural weaknesses, and bullets aren't one of them. You could always try tracer rounds that should be enough to ignite them. I'll start working on trying to get a flamethrower built, but again that's going to take time."

"Damn, well do the best that you can. I'll just continue to hunt vamps without any special gear. Since your only just getting the armor plant online I'll forgo wearing the MJOLNIR suit tonight."

"Take a comlink with you just in case."

"Yes mother." Xander replied sarcastically as he began changing into some surplus military clothing. Once he had changed he grabbed some stakes and a few bottles of holy water from what would eventually become his armory, which was at the moment quite empty.

After leaving the warehouse Xander decided that instead of patrolling the cemeteries, which had a high chance of him running into Buffy, he would instead take a little jog through the tunnels under the town. It took him a few moments to find a manhole that lead down into the dank tunnels that crisscrossed underneath the town. He had forgotten how bad the stench was since he had been there last. He methodically hunted through the tunnels, sneaking up on the vamps that he found, creating a mental map as he went. Every demon that he came across that he knew the weak point of he slaughtered, most that he found were vampires, but he did come across a few others. Almost all demons that he knew about could die from the loss of their heads and with his newfound Spartan level strength it was not hard to rip said heads from their shoulders.

After each and every kill that he made, he quickly scoured the area attempting to find any artifacts, books, talismans, and cash that the demon might have had. If he was going to risk his life for mankind he might as well get paid for it. Also some of the artifacts that the demons had were just too dangerous to be left lying around for some other poor sucker to come across. Didn't want some idiot that had a death wish to take mankind with him cause he got teased a lot in school now would you? After nearly three hours down in the tunnels, and now smelling something truly awful, Xander left the tunnels and made his way towards the Bronze. Thinking maybe he could see this band that Buffy had been so hopped up on seeing. But thanks to being in the sewers for so long, the bouncer told him no way in hell was he getting into the club smelling like that.

Xander headed home after that. After getting nearly to his old house before remembering that he now had a new home he switched directions leading back towards the industrial parks of Sunnydale. It took nearly a half hour to get there. Once there he quickly jumped into the shower, the bouncer had been right, he did smell something quite awful.

After finishing up in the shower Xander quickly dressed and then took the time to look around his new apartment. Not really having had a chance to see it all as the workers built it. He was now the proud owner of a 3 story internal apartment. The top floor was laid out as a massive master bedroom with a king sized bed taking up one corner of the room. The room itself was close to thirty feet by thirty feet. Off to one side was a door leading into the master bath, which contained both a shower and a two-person tub, along with all the other amenities found in a normal bathroom. Coming down to the second level, which was a little larger, there were two extra bedrooms a huge living room with a truly massive plasma flat screen TV. The second floor also contained the kitchen with a well-stocked pantry. Beside the kitchen was the laundry room with three large washing machines and three dryers. He didn't know why he needed so many laundry machines but he was just happy that they were there. Xander didn't feel up to having to walk to the closest Laundromat every time he wanted some clean clothes. Also it would be a little hard to explain why all his clothes would be covered in blood and not human blood at that.

Xander made his way back down to the main part of the warehouse to see what Cortana was up to now. She was still interfaced with the warehouses main computer.

"So how you liking Earth Cortana?"

"I was created on Earth, you do know that right?" She replied.

"Ya, I know. But this Earth is different from yours. I was just wondering how you liked it."

"This Earth is a little weird. I was just taking another jaunt through the net to see what was going on when I came across this news bulletin. It seems some company was experimenting with genetic engineering and managed to recreate about two hundred breeds of dinosaurs on an isolated Atlantic island a few hundred miles off the coast of Costa Rica."

"Did you just say dinosaurs?" Xander asked.

"Yes, dinosaurs. There seems to be a lot of confusion over what they should do with them. A lot of the animal rights groups are up in arms demanding that the islands be declared endangered species protected habitats and at the moment they seem to be winning. The five islands in question contain only a few thousand dinosaurs and there are no humans living within 300 miles."

Xander said. "You know it's really depressing that that's not the most amazing thing I've ever heard."

"Yup, you lead an eventful life don't you? Now go get some sleep, we got another round of deliveries tomorrow and they show up early." Cortana ordered.

"What more could you possibly have ordered?" Xander sputtered.

"Well raw materials for one thing, also more circuits, microchips, processors and a few other things that should come in handy. If you're going to really take on the demon underworld, as you call it, then your going to need a lot of equipment. Also some of the things that I ordered would be the first step in my getting a fully functioning medical lab online incase you manage to get yourself seriously injured, which we both know will happen sooner or later. Now go get some sleep."

Xander did as he was ordered but grumbled under his breath about bossy women and why did he like them so much.

The next morning as promised another round of deliveries occurred. This time instead of 5 trucks there was only 4. Each truck was full of equipment and raw materials that Cortana had ordered. After signing for each and every single thing on the trucks, Xander was nice enough to help the drivers unload all the stuff into the warehouse. Most of the items were just left in a pile, since Cortana now controlled enough little robotic arms to move things around, and besides he didn't know where to put the stuff anyway.

Xander looked around at the massive mess and sighed. "I'll help you clean all this stuff up later, I gotta get going or I'm going to be late for school."

Cortana took a look at an internal clock and noticed the time before speaking. "Ok, have a good day at school, and don't get killed!"

"I will and I won't!" Xander yelled in reply as he walked out the door.

After arriving at school, the true mouth of hell in his mind, Xander quickly went to his first class and his favorite now. Computer science, he hated the subject but love the teacher. Miss Jennifer Calendar had to be among the most stunning women that he had ever met in his life. She flowed into the room life a dancer, her long legs incased within stockings that disappeared into a knee length skirt.

Miss Calendar quickly began giving the class instructions on what they would be doing today; it was a simple typing exercise to increase your typing speed. Now Xander had never been the best student, mostly because he was lazy as hell, but today he tried his hardest hoping to impress Miss Calendar. Unfortunately that was doomed to failure for though he tried his hardest, his mind as always began to take frequent though brief jaunts into the realm of fantasy, which was the cause of him nearly not finishing the full assignment. Though he was hardly the only male in the class to fantasize about Miss Calendar and for that matter a few of the girls did too.

When the bell finally did ring Xander made no move to leave, seeing as how he had a free period next. He decided to stay in the computer classroom and at least attempt to broaden his knowledge of magic and demons through the internet. Some of the most comprehensive databases on demonkind were only available online, which Giles still refused to use.

Jenny having noticed that Xander stayed behind after class sauntered over to where he was sitting to see why.

"So any reason why you're not running out the door as you usually do?" She asked in a teasing voice.

"Um, just wanted to get some extra time in on the comps." He said as he frantically tried to close the window browser.

"Oh, what are you looking at that you don't want me to see." With that statement she walked behind him to glance at the monitor. On the screen was the image of a Wiccan ritual that was performed nude. She just chuckled, watching his face go bright red.

"Interested in pagan rites are we?"

"Um, yes?"

"Well if you're truly interested in magic, I know a few sites that you could read to get a better understanding behind it. Though I do have to tell you Xander you probably wouldn't be able to do very many, if any at all."

"Why couldn't I do any spells? Not that I'm going to be doing any anyway."

Jenny replied in a soft tone. "To be a mage or witch you have to be born with the power. It's not something that you can learn. The potential has to be within you to begin with and you don't have any mystical power of your own. So that's why you can't do spells."

"Damn, oh well. Its not like I planned on doing any spells to begin with."

"Can I ask why you're looking through Wiccan spell sites then?" She asked now a little bit curious.

"Oh, just doing a little research. I was wanting to put a few wards or something like that up around my house so Deadboy couldn't get in."

Jenny got a slightly evil grin on her face at the hated nickname of Angel. "Well I could help with that. I do know enough magic to put up a few low power wards, might not keep him out but should slow him down a bit."

"Sweet. Umm one problem." Xander looked a little nervous as he glanced around to make sure they were truly alone. Jenny also looked around, wondering to herself why she was doing this but decided to just humor him.

"Ok, please don't tell anyone this though ok?" Xander waited patiently till Jenny nodded her agreement before continuing. "You remember Halloween, where we all became what we dressed up as?"

Jenny blushed at that, for on Halloween she had dressed up as an Arabian belly dancer to go to a costume party, but still managed to nod.

Xander continued, though filing away in his mind that blush and making a note to ask about it later, with his story of how he became a Spartan for the night and how after the spell was broken he still remained with all of a Spartan's abilities.

Jenny was stunned. "You mean to tell me that you have a true AI, and a suit of MJOLNIR armor?"

Xander had a tiny smirk on his face as he nodded. "Yup, I got both back at my new place. You want to meet Cortana?"

"Yes, definitely!"

"Ok, meet me here after school and I'll take you back to meet her."

Jenny quickly agreed. For the rest of the day all she could think about was that she was going to be meeting a true AI. Though also in the back of her mind was the knowledge that she would have to continue her research into the curse upon Angelus. If he ever managed to break free then the death toll would be unimaginable. When school finally did let out for the day, she was close to agreeing with her students that school was the root of all evil, she rapidly packed all of her work into her briefcase. As soon as Xander came into the classroom she was already ready to burst with excitement to get going.

"You already to get going?" He asked.

"Yup, I'm ready to go."

"Cool, um did you drive to school today cause I didn't. It would have raised too many questions if I drove my new hummer to the school." He continued his explanation at her raised eyebrow when he mentioned a car.

"Yes, I brought my car to school today. It's the black oldsmobile out in the parking lot." She pointed it out to him as they passed a window on their way towards the schools doors. After getting into the car Xander began giving directions back to the warehouse that was now his home.

Once there Xander hopped out to open the garage doors, he hadn't gotten an automatic door opener installed yet, and directed her to drive inside. After taking one last look around the empty street Xander pulled the door down after him. Jenny shut the car off and nearly fell over when the platform the car was on began to rotate the car around to face the doors. When Xander took her into the main room she was amazed at the vast amounts of machinery most of it looking very advanced beyond anything that she had ever seen before. Walking behind him she followed him over to what appeared to be a massive collection of computer consoles. On the main screen was Cortana herself, she had assumed her avatar a younger, purple, version of her creator.

"Hi Cortana, I'm back and I even brought a friend!" Xander said.

"Xander! Are you insane? I thought we had discussed bringing outsiders back to Alpha base." Cortana nearly yelled through the speakers attached to the console she was interfaced with.

Jenny seeing that Xander didn't know what to say spoke up herself. "Um Hi I'm Jenny Calendar and I just wanted to say that I'm a big fan of yours, uh I mean ever since I played the game with you in it. Halo is one of my favorite games!"

Cortana was busy looking through Jenny's files through the internet and tracking down all available information on her as she responded. "Really, well as long as you don't comprise the integrity of this installation I don't really see any harm in your being here."

"That's good, cause Miss Calendar has agreed to place a few warding spells around the warehouse to keep demons and vamps out of here."

"Spells, what kind of spells. If you'll forgive me for saying so I'm a little nervous around magic considering that it was magic that brought me here to begin with."

Jenny looked more in her element as she began to describe various alarm spells designed to detect certain demon species and other barrier spells that could be placed on the building that would keep any and all demons out unless they were invited inside by the owner of the building in question. While Cortana talked to Jenny another part of her was still busy searching far and wide across the world unraveling the life of Jenny Calendar and she was starting to come up with some puzzling results, which prompted her to ask her next question.

"Miss Calendar, why is it that I find next to no record of you anywhere on Earth, but yet I find many documents of a woman who matches your physical description. One Janna Kalderash to be exact.

The look on Jenny's face was priceless as the carefully constructed web of lies and false truths that she had built for herself came crashing down around her. She should have known that an AI of Cortana's power would have done a background check on her as soon as she met her. Now Xander was looking at her strangely as he backed away from her towards the weapons sitting on a nearby table.

"Well since you obviously already know, yes I am Janna Kalderash of the Romany. I was sent here by the clan to make sure that Angelus would continue to suffer and the curse not be broken."

Xander looked a little more trusting but he still picked up a pistol and loaded it. "If that's true then why didn't you just come forward with this information in the beginning?"

"The clan elders didn't think it would be wise for me to involve myself directly with your group. Angelus is meant to suffer and at this point the curse appears to be slowly lifting. If I can't figure out a way to prevent this soon then Angelus will return and be a hundred years stronger than before."

"I don't understand. How could he be stronger than before?"

"Vampires grow in strength the older they get. Angel is nearly 250 years old that brings with it a lot of power. If Angelus were to return and begin feeding off real human blood then he would be an insanely powerful Master Vampire."

"Well we'll just have to insure that that doesn't happen then won't we?" Xander said with a deadly gleam in his eye.

"All available records that I've managed to find on you concur with your story Miss Kalderash. Also biometric scans of your body indicate that you were indeed telling the truth. Though in the future do not attempt to lie to us, we have many means at our disposal to ascertain if you are telling the truth."

"I'll remember that. Thank you for believing me. Do you have any objections to my casting those barrier spells?" Janna asked, despite herself she felt worried that their answer would be no. So far Xander and Cortana seemed to be the two nicest people that she had met in Sunnydale. Giles was a nice guy in all but he was way too uptight and he doted on Buffy far too much for her tastes, he was just too spineless.

Xander exchanged a pointed look with Cortana discussing the idea through their neural link before replying. "Nah, you can do the spells for the base. Though I was wondering if you could help us with another problem?"

"What's that?" Jenny asked.

"Well since you seem to know a lot about magic and demons, we were wondering if you could help us build a database on demons, magic, and magical items that we might come across."

"I can certainly do that. I have enough reference material of my own and that of the clans that could be of immense use to you two. Though I only ask one thing in return."

Xander and Cortana once again exchanged thoughts through their neural link attempting to determine just what she would ask of them and coming to a list of things that they would allow and wouldn't allow. "Ok lets here it."

"Let me move in here. You certainly have the space and it would make life a lot easier on you to have me available to power the wards and barriers." Janna looked hopeful as she said this. She had another motive in mind when she asked this but it was the lesser of the two. Her apartment manager was an asshole and her place was also infested with rats.

Xander pretended to think about it for a few minutes but in reality he and Cortana had assumed that this might be the case. Housing in Sunnydale had many problems associated with it, demons usually being one of the larger issues as many homes were inspelled to remove the normal barriers preventing them access, as well as other mundane problems. "You can stay. Tomorrow is Friday so we can move your stuff in after school and over the weekend. And I guess you can help me pick out some furniture for the rooms in the apartment."

"Thank you! You won't regret this." Jenny said. After they had finished discussing the plans to move her in she went to begin the rituals to erect the barriers and wards. Most were extremely low level spells but would get more powerful the longer they were in place and charged until they were next to impenetrable.

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Across the county a young girl was running through a run down section of town attempting to get away from the things chasing her. She called them things cause they didn't appear to be human with their weird faces and fangs. She couldn't forget the fangs, the last time she had seen something like that was when her mom died. She had brought one of her johns home, almost before they had even got in the door the 'things' face had changed into something evil and then he bit her in the neck. It took next to a few seconds before her mother had died. She had been lucky that it hadn't come after her but since she had been hiding in the next room he hadn't seen her. When the cops finally came after her frantic call to 911 they had assumed that she had done it, they never believed her story of the creature. She had been declared mentally unfit to stand trial so they had attempted to lock her up in the nuthouse but she had managed to escape and ever since then she had been living on the street. And now these things were chasing her.

She ducked in and out of alleys attempting to lose them as she took every shortcut that she knew and after living on the streets for nearly two years she knew a lot of them.

As she flew around a corner she ran right into a garbage can that was in the alley, she fell to the ground still scrabbling for purchase to get back to her feet and run but she wasn't quick enough.

"Well what we got here, a little tasty mortal for us to enjoy!" said the first one as he grabbed her and held her arms tight.

"This won't hurt a bit darling, maybe you'll even come to like it." The second spoke as he came in closer about to bite her neck when his eyes opened wide in surprise before his body vanished in a cloud of dust. The first one saw this and turned to run but he too vanished in a cloud of dust before her eyes. She turned to the end of the alley to see a middle aged woman coming towards her carrying a crossbow. The woman looked regal but she carried herself with an air of danger surrounding her.

"I am Lady Linda Pryce." She said. "I have come to help you with your destiny. Now what is your name?"

The young girl just starred at her in awe before shaking herself and answering. "My names Faith."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes: I have altered the SG-1 timeline a bit to fit better with the story, in my mind at least. So the season three episode Fair Game will happen before SG-1 does battle with Seth. To the reviewer's who pointed out that Kendra would have no reason to go after Seth that will be explained as the story progress's. As always if you have any complaints or suggestions please tell me. I can't improve my writing without them.

Chapter 3.

Xander awoke suddenly early Friday morning; he knew it was early because the sun had barely risen to shine its rays through his window, to the sound of destruction from downstairs. Thinking they were under attack he quickly grabbed a handgun that he kept in his room for just this sort of thing. Running down the stairs he was worried that his attempts to raise Cortana through the neural link were not succeeding, fearing the worst he burst into the main room to see a weird sight.

One of Cortana's mechanical arms was holding what appeared to be a large hammer and was smashing all of the new MJOLNIR armor pieces that had been created so far.

"What the hell are you doing!" He roared. Hoping for some reasonable explanation for why she just destroyed the replacement armor pieces.

Cortana's avatar, which was projected on one of the large computer screens, turned to look directly at him before responding. "I screwed up. I thought that I would be able to reconstruct the armor using the equipment available here. These pieces are extremely substandard quality."

"So your breaking them up cause they don't meet your standards? Then why the hell are you using a hammer?" He replied in a tired tone.

"Because I feel the need to vent a little frustration. These pieces were supposed to be battlefield replacements for when your suit gets damaged, but they wouldn't be able to take a tenth of the damage that the suit could. It's going to take me nearly a week before I can build a true replacement piece of armor so your going to have to be very careful when wearing the MJOLNIR armor, we can't afford heavy damage at this point." Cortana said while still venting her rage on the armor.

"But did you have to do this so early, for god's sake its only 6 o'clock in the morning!" He whined. Thinking to himself that he would never get back to sleep for the last remaining hour before he was supposed to get up to go to school.

"It's time you got up anyway. You might be enjoying all the benefits of the Spartan enhancement now but to keep yourself in this condition requires that you begin a strenuous work out program." Cortana replied. "And no whining!"

"Dammit I knew it was too good to be true. Ok so what do I have to do now?" Xander said trying to keep the whining out of his voice but from the slightly evil grin that appeared on Cortana's voice he knew he hadn't been entirely successful.

"I think a six kilometer run would be a perfect start for you. And before you start complaining I could always increase it. I modified a treadmill to take your increased weight so you can jog here. I will be altering it to vary the grade as you go to simulate jogging up and down hills. Now get to it!" Cortana shouted out in a near perfect drill instructor's voice.

Before Xander even knew what was happening his body was reacting to the conditioning set into it by the memories of the Master Chief. He was up on the treadmill jogging in the manner proscribed within the Spartan training program designed to cover the most distance in the least amount of time without draining your energy. "God this sucks!"

"Just for that its now 8!" Cortana yelled through her speakers.

Xander wisely shut his mouth before retorting thinking to himself if he made another smartass remark Cortana would only increase the distance. Though he was still thinking of someway of getting revenge on the AI for this.

A few hours later a very tired Xander was getting dressed to go to school thinking that it would better to just kill himself now then have to go through training like that again. After the run he then had to do weight lifting for an hour in specific rep patterns to keep his Spartan muscles in peak physical condition. After school Cortana had told him that he would have to begin training on how to disassemble and reassemble his weapons until such time as it was instinct.

Deciding to drive to school today, he would just have to be careful to park the hummer far enough away from the school to prevent anyone from seeing him driving it, he stepped into the garage to find the hummer in close to a thousand pieces spread across the garage floor.

Xander sighed, "Do I even want to know why you broke my car?"

"I didn't break it. I'm merely enhancing it with the best that 20th century technology has to offer. Also I'm increasing the power that the engine can give. It should be ready for field use by this afternoon." Cortana replied indignant that she would break something completely ignoring the pointed look she received for that statement.

"Sweet, but how do I get to school now?"

Cortana didn't even spare him a glance as she continued her work. "Same way you got there yesterday, walk. Have a nice day!" She said in an overly sweet voice just dripping with sarcasm.

Xander just turned and walked out the main doors to be the long walk to the school. In reality it wasn't that far but after the excruciating workout Cortana put him through it felt like it was on the other side of the world. It only took him about twenty minutes to arrive at the gates to the school but to him it felt likes eons, it was at this point that he realized Cortana was right about him having to exercise a lot more often if he wanted to keep himself in shape.

Making his way to his first class as always his favorite, computer science, just cause he got to gaze upon Miss Calendar for a while. It was then that it hit him, she would be moving into Alpha base after school today and he would be around her all the time. His brain took a brief jaunt into his fantasy world with all of the possibilities that could present themselves with her living with him.

Miss Calendar entered the room jarring him from his perverse thoughts. He still had to remember to ask her what just had caused that massive blush yesterday when he asked her if she remembered his costume. A little research on his part had revealed that she had bought her costume from Ethan's though he hadn't figured out just what costume she had bought.

Today was a basic day of classes for him, most he attempted to sleep through as usual, but thanks to the neural enhancements he stayed awake and actually began to learn a few things though he still swore that school was the root of all evil.

After school Xander went by the computer classroom hoping to see if he could once again catch a ride with Jenny. When he arrived there he found something he hadn't planned on. Miss Calendar was in the middle of an argument with the Scooby's. Seems that she and Giles had finally had a talk about who she really was.

Buffy was talking low to avoid being overheard by the rest of the student body but you could hear the betrayal and anger in her voice. "You lied to me. I can't understand that!"

Jenny was near the end of her patience as she tried to explain once more. "I was sent her to ensure that the curse on Angelus wasn't broken that's all! The only time that I lied to you was about my name being Kalderash. If I had told you that I was here to make sure that Angelus continued to suffer would you want anything to do with me?"

Buffy sneered "Of course not. Angel is a good man, he never did anything to you!"

"Listen to yourself child, Angel and Angelus are two different people who just happen to inhabit the same body. Angelus was the terror of the Europe before he was cursed." Jenny replied trying to keep the frustration out of her voice. She looked to Giles and Willow hoping to get a little support but one glance was enough to tell her that she wouldn't be getting any help from those two. Willow was nodding her head with every word spewed out of Buffy's mouth and Giles as always agreed with his Slayer not even attempting to enforce the normal Watcher/Slayer relationship.

Buffy spoke once again. "You're no longer welcome here. Just stay out of our way from now on." With that she walked away. Giles and Willow trailing behind her like obedient sheep.

Jenny just watched them go before sitting back down promising herself that she wouldn't cry. All she had wanted to do was to do her job and then find someway of dumping it on another member of the Clan before getting back to her life.

Xander walked into the room quietly hoping not to startle her. When he got up beside her desk he kneeled down and spoke softly. "C'mon let's get out of here."

She nodded and followed him out into the school parking lot. She gave him the keys to her car not trusting herself to drive at this point. Giving directions back to her apartment building so they could begin loading up her things to take back to the Alpha base. When they arrived there both of them were surprised to see a moving van waiting on the side of the road.

Xander turned to Jenny. "Did you hire movers?"

"Uh no, did you?" She asked in reply.

"No, hell if I to had guess Cortana hired them. Sometimes I truly wonder who's in charge here, me or her." Xander sighed

Jenny smirked. "Well of course its Cortana. She is of course a female which makes her a member of the superior sex."

"Oh ha ha, very funny." Xander groaned. "C'mon lets go get your stuff and get it back to the base."

Xander and Jenny walked over to the moving van, which did turn out to be hired by Cortana, before walking into the apartment complex. It took about an hour and a half to load all the books, furniture and other items onto the truck. Once everything was loaded they drove back with the movers following them to unload it all into the loading dock of the warehouse.

As Jenny was lifting one end of her couch with Xander on the other end she said. "Uh why didn't we just have the movers take the stuff directly into the living area's?"

Xander responded. "Well I didn't want the moving guys to see all the weapons and equipment that Cortana is trying to build over there."

"Oh, I guess that's a good reason." With that they both went back to work trying to get all of her stuff into the apartment area. Jenny would be taking over one of the spare bedrooms on the 2nd floor. Since most of her furniture was in neutral colors and didn't make the place look too feminine Xander decided to place the couch set in the living room seeing as how he hadn't gotten around to getting any furniture of his own yet.

Once everything was moved in Xander went downstairs to do some more training. Jenny stayed upstairs to unpack her stuff. Mostly they stayed out of each others way as they slowly began the adjustment to living together, hopefully it wouldn't end with either of them killing the other but you can never tell with some people.

Cortana was busy working on various projects but she had dedicated a substantial portion of her attention to begin scanning Jenny's books into a dedicated database. Most of the time was spent cross-indexing and translating from ancient languages into English but as soon as it was done it would probably be one of the most easily accessible, not to mention understandable, index of demons and magic. Jenny's personal library wasn't by any means a complete one but what she did have was enough for Cortana to use as a reference point to carry out research throughout the internet.

"Hey Cortana, you got the hummer back together yet or is it still in a million pieces?" Xander shouted across the room as he did his weight lifting.

"Its back together and fully armored with the best that I could come up with. Why you planning on taking it out tonight?" She replied sparing a few moments of her core personality from various tasks.

"Ya, I thought I let the town know that there's a new hunter around now and that if they wanna live to get the hell out." Xander replied as he attempted to keep his rep motions steady. "I think I'll go in full armor tonight."

"Good idea. I'll start warming up the armor for combat operations." Cortana said as she began doing just that.

After Xander finished his workout, a short one at that, he went upstairs to change into clothing that could be worn underneath the armor. Namely a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, it was this that got Jenny's attention as he came back down the stairs.

"Going out tonight?" She asked

"Ya its time I announced my presence to the population. You wanna drive?" He replied as they both walked out to where the armor was stored.

"Sure."

Xander quickly but efficiently checked the armor over before donning it. Each piece was locked into place before moving on. Once the armor was fully sealed and locked down he selected his weapons load out for the night. Thinking that since he wanted to make an impression on the locals he should go for heavy firepower he took the MA5B assault rifle along with two M6D pistols as back up weapons.

Driving through town both Xander and Jenny were quiet as they thought of the changes to their lives tonight would bring. This night would be the first in many of fighting against the darkness, destroying the forces of evil, and fighting for the goal that all of mankind had fought for all his life. The goal of final victory over the demons that sought to destroy mankind or to dominate him.

Willy's bar was usually a rowdy joint. Dozens of demons would frequent the place to get a beer or whatever their species usually drank. Vampires would use this place to get some blood without going through the hassle of tracking down a victim. Others would come to conduct business under the table so to speak as no names were ever asked for here. Hell some even came to watch the Slayer beat the crap out of Willy for information on occasion. But tonight all of the patrons wished they could've been somewhere else.

The door exploded inward with enough force to nearly decapitate a young vampire who had been heading out. When the smoke cleared standing in the door was a massive black armored clad man nearly seven feet tall. Weapons were hanging off him. No one could see his face thanks to a yellowish face shield covering it, though most would hazard a guess and say he didn't look happy. Silence prevailed throughout the room until one vampire was dumb enough to talk to the armored menace.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing mate?" The bleached blood vampire known as Spike roared from his place at the bar. "You think you can just waltz in here and start shooting us?"

The armored man took one step over the threshold into the bar and leveled the massive gun in his hands in the direction of Spike.

"Hate to break it to ya mate, guns don't kill vampires." Spike sneered.

This provoked a response of a hail of bullets. Spike had forgotten one thing when he said bullets don't kill vampires. They didn't have to kill to hurt like a bitch. Vampires are a demon trapped in a human body so they are also susceptible to anything that could damage a human and bullets were designed to hurt humans.

It was a bloodbath, the vampires and demons scrambling to get out of the way of this armored creature as he unleashed a hailstorm of weapons fire throughout the bar. Screams and the sound of gunfire wafted out the door and onto the street, though no one came to see what was going on. Any and all that heard those sounds decided that tonight was not the night to visit Willy's.

While the bullets did fail to kill the vampires the destructive damage they did to their bodies was almost beyond belief. Bodies were torn apart by the kinetic energy being slammed into them with the force of sledgehammers. Arms, legs, and other body parts were blown off. After a demon was chopped down to size the creature would then be put of their misery by the armored figure removing their head with a massive knife that seemed to just appear in his hand. Vampires and demons died and all this time Willy just cowered behind the bar praying to whatever gods he could think hoping that maybe one of them would save his sorry ass.

After a few minutes with no more screams or gunfire Willy slowly raised his head up over the bar to see if the hunter was gone. He wasn't, almost as soon as he raised his head Willy was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and pulled up and over the bar.

"Don't hurt me, please don't hurt me. I'll do whatever you want. I'll pay you just please don't kill me!" He cried in a desperate attempt to save his life.

The hunter spoke with a gravely voice that sounded like death itself. "You are the worst scum the human race has to offer. You consort with demons; I should end your life right now. But I will let you live on one condition."

"Anything, anything at all. You name it and its yours!" Willy blubbered.

"You now work for me. You hear any information on the activities of demons or vampires, you send it my way. The first time your information is wrong and your life is forfeit. Do you understand me?" The voice grated out.

"I get ya, I understand perfectly!" Willy nodded his head as fast as he could, knowing that if he didn't agree to this deal he was dead anyway. Maybe sometime down the road he could set the hunter up but until then it was every man for himself and he had no problems selling out the demons that frequented his bar.

"Good." With that the hunter dropped Willy on the ground before turning to walk out the door. Before he crossed the threshold he spoke one last time to the 3 or 4 survivors of his massacre. "I'm the new hunter in town, if you want to live get out of Sunnydale."

One of the braver, or dumber depending on who you asked, survivors asked the question that they were all thinking. Well those who could think at this point anyway. "Who are you?"

"I'm Spartan 117." With that he left. A few seconds later they heard the sound of a large car speeding off into the night.

A few hours later Willy having closed the bar was fast at work trying to clean the place up. This had to have been the worst night ever in the history of his bar. Tens of thousands of dollars in damages, bullet holes in damn near every wall and not to mention that nearly every table he owned was busted.

One of said tables decided it was time to move, it seemed whoever was lying underneath it woke up and pushed it off himself. "Dammit that hurt. I'm going to track that bloody bastard down and kill him with my bare hands!" Spike roared as he slowly got up. When the stranger had opened fire the first few rounds had shoved Spike into the back of the room where debris and other bodies had fallen on top of him. Probably saving his unlife in the long run.

After Spike got himself to his feet he walked into the backroom jumping down into the tunnels, thinking to himself that maybe tonight it was better to stay off the streets and out of sight until he was ready to take the hunter on.

Willy just sighed to himself as he watched his last standing table finally give up the ghost and collapse. Sometimes he really wondered why he even bothered to stick around and keep his bar open.

"Whoa, decided to redecorate the bar Willy?" Buffy said as she came into the bar. "Who did all this?"

"Its none of your business Slayer. Just leave me alone and take soul boy with you." Willy responded as he watched the two of them come closer. Angel didn't even acknowledge the semi insult with a response.

"Now Willy, you know you wanna tell me or do I have to persuade you again?" She said in an overly sweet voice.

"Christ no Slayer, look around this place is toast. I don't need anymore trouble tonight!" He whined hoping that they would just leave but he knew his luck wasn't that good.

"Well if you don't tell me what I want to know then we'll just have to trash the rest of the place. Want to talk now?" She threatened.

"Fine. This guy just came in and started blazing away with his guns. Damn near killed everyone in here, only a few made it out. He said he was the new hunter in town and if they wanted to live to get out of sunnydale." Willy talked fast hoping to get the Slayer and pet vamp out of what was left of his bar as fast as possible.

"The nerve of that guy thinking he can just come into MY town and start hunting! What did he call himself?" She shouted at him.

"He said to call him Spartan 117." Willy replied quickly trying to back away from the angry slayer.

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The gate room was full of soldiers and officers from Stargate Command. They were here to be congratulated for their efforts in rescuing SG-1 from the clutches of the Goa'uld Hathor. Dozens of soldiers had been sent on the mission to recover their lost team but some had not returned. Falling in battle to an enemy that showed no mercy and was not above destroying the worlds of those who opposed him.

Major General George Hammond stood at the top of the gate ramp giving the speech that praised the efforts of those who had emerged victorious once again and also those who had given their lives in the ultimate sacrifice. Also standing with him was Arthur Simms, the secretary of defense, and SG-1 in its entirety.

Today was a day that would live in the history books of mankind, when they got around to actually writing this section that is, the day when mankind would once again meet a truly alien race known as the Asgard. General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill were at this time finishing up the promotion of Captain Carter to the rank of Major.

Colonel O'Neill was called upon to make a short speech after the promotion but before he got the chance to start it he disappeared in a flash of white light.

"And in conclusion I'd like to say…" O'Neill just trailed off as he gazed down upon the Earth from high above it. It took his mind a few moments to grasp the fact that he was no longer standing upon his home world. He turned to look around the room that he was in now. It had a distinctly alien look to it, high ceilings with curved walls surrounding him made out of a metal that he could not identify. At the other end of the room was a high backed chair that looked too small to be used by a human; it was suddenly engulfed in a flash of white light, which faded to reveal an alien that looked remarkably the reports of the Roswell Grays.

The alien stared at him for a few seconds before speaking in perfect English. "Greetings Jack O'Neill."

"Greetings." Jack responded by force of habitat before he could stop himself. It took a few seconds for him to realize that the alien had addressed him by name. "Have we met?"

"I am Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet."

For the next few minutes the conversation revolved around distressing news that the System Lords were contemplating launching an attack nearly one hundred times more powerful than the one launched by Apophis last year. With the death of Hathor the System Lords had decreed that Earth was too large of a threat to them.

The Asgard had determined that this was unacceptable to them but since the vast majority of the Asgard fleet was unavailable for combat hindered their options. It had been then decided that the Asgard would reveal themselves to the SGC and ask if for their permission to negotiate on behalf of Earth for entry within the Protected Planets Treaty.

Jack agreed to the idea of negotiations but his preference was for warships but seeing as they weren't available he would settle for whatever would prevent this attack.

A few days later the treaty summit began. The sessions were usually short and tense. The Asgard having chosen Jack to represent Earth at the summit, in his mind a bad idea, but he did it seeing as he had no choice.

The most startling thing to happen was when the Goa'uld demanded the surrender of the Earth Gates, both of them. Which raised a few questions on how the hell they knew that there was more than one gate on the planet. With the threat of a Goa'uld fleet showing up to destroy Earth and no other options presenting themselves it had been decided to surrender the gates in the hope that Earth would be spared.

Though before the treaty could be accepted things as usual around the SGC went to hell. Kronos was attacked supposedly by Teal'c and laid near death. The other two snakes of course blamed Earth for this betrayal and demanded to be able to return to their worlds. It was at this point that the SGC decided to throw caution to the wind and took the snake's hostage in hopes of figuring out a way out of this mess soon.

The situation was resolved a few hours later when Jack bluffed with Nirti and Lord Yu by telling of Nirti's phase shifting technology which made Nirti fearful for her own life making her reveal that she in fact actually had the tech and did attack Krono's. With Krono's healed and his vote allowing the gates to remain on Earth things seemed to be returning to normal, though normal was relative in the SGC, but no one knew how long that would last.

As Thor was about to leave orbit and return to the Asgard home galaxy a sensor technician came forward to speak to him.

"Commander Thor we have detected an anomalous life form on the planet's surface. It seems to be technological in origin. What should we do with this information?"

"For now nothing. We shall leave a cloaked surveillance satellite in a high polar orbit to monitor the life form and also the SGC. I believe that we will be returning to this planet more often in the future."


	4. Chapter 4

Author's notes: Hi all. Once again I have created a new chapter for you. I just want to take this time to answer a few reviews and then you can get on with your reading. JA Baker thank you for reviewing my work. I was inspired to write this based on your Halo/Buffy crossover. And you are right about how i have made mistakes pertaining to Halo, though i have to say in my defense that i know next to nothing about Halo. All i know is from what i can read online. I have never played the game or read the books, though i do plan on buying a Halo book soon. Also I am aware of how SG-1 met Thor, I do have most of the season sets. I changed the timing of how Jack himself meets Thor thats it. Also that would be the first true time that Hammond meets the Asgard so it could be called the true First Contact between their races. Thanks again for the reviews and sorry about the length of the note which i'm sure you're sick of. Now on with the Story!

Chapter 4.

After their brief encounter at Willy's bar both Buffy and Angel decided that they should return to the library to determine their next move. If a new demon hunter was making his presence known in Sunnydale then they would need backup when confronting him. If this new hunter was on the side of good, then he could be brought into the fold under her command, but if the hunter turned out to be evil or a demon then they would have to slay him.

Buffy and Angel burst into the library not running but not walking either. They had made the best time that they could without running straight here. "Giles, we got a problem!"

Giles looked up, he had been reading an extremely important prophecy before they came bursting in, and he spared a second to glare at the demon before turning his attention to Buffy. "What problem?"

"We were patrolling over near Restfields and we decided to drop in on Willy to get some info. But when we got there the place was torn up like someone dropped a bomb in there. Willy said that some new hunter was in town. MY town, and he's killing demons!"

Giles looked shocked but remained calm when he spoke. "A new hunter, well that's a good thing. Means fewer demons will threaten innocent lives.

"Giles I don't think you're getting this, he's in MY town." Buffy whined. "And he's probably a demon, no one would be dumb enough to start a fight in Willy's without some serious mojo backing them up."

Willow who had been merely listening to this point chose to speak up now. "Do you think it's a demon, did Willy have any information on what kind of demon it was?"

"Ya he said it was some kind of sparky thing, umm something like that I think." Buffy said looking confused as she tried to think.

Angel had finished his brooding and saw that Buffy was talking about the mysterious hunter. "I think Willy called him Spartan."

"Ya that's it. What's a Spartan?" Buffy asked.

Giles seeing an opportunity to give a lecture jumped in. "The Spartans were ancient warriors from the city state of Sparta in ancient Greece. They were feared throughout the world for they were among the most well trained soldiers of their time. Any and all who opposed them were slaughtered without mercy. From childhood they were trained in the art of war. They had no equal."

Willow eyes lit up with an idea. "So do you think it's like an actual Spartan, maybe one who was cursed or turned into a demon?"

"I don't know, but I think this calls for some research. Me and my books are in for another long night I suppose." Giles looked happy at the idea of something new and exciting to research up on. He had been a little under the weather since he had broken up with Jenny.

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Across town the Spartan as he was coming to be known as was celebrating his first mission with Jenny. Thanks to the advanced computer systems built into his MJOLNIR suit he tracked the number of kills he had made. Twelve vampires along with seven other demons of various races had died in Willy's that night. Though he wasn't done for the night, not by a long shot, soon as he got some more ammo and maybe a few grenades he planned on making a circuit of the various cemeteries to start clearing them out.

Xander turned to look at Jenny who was driving the hummer. "So any ideas on where I'll find a large concentration of demons and vamps other than at Willy's?"

Jenny smirked. "Well most demons and vamps tend to hunt alone, though if you want to get a lot of them then head for the tunnels. It's the easiest way for demons to move around without getting spotted by humans."

"Ya well I should try and make a big impression. Don't want the demons to forget that I'm here."

"I seriously doubt they'll forget you're here." She snorted. He had probably caused more carnage in five minutes then the Slayer had caused in the past week. It was going to be an interesting time in Sunnydale for the next little while.

Arriving back at Alpha Base Jenny drove straight into the garage and onto the revolving platform. Once the hummer was turned around they both hopped out, Xander to reload his ammo supplies, Jenny to go get something to eat. Cortana was as always busy attempting to build 26th century technology from a 20th century tech base. It was difficult but not impossible given that she had the complete technological files on all the important pieces of UNSC hardware along with the knowledge of how to build the machines that made the machines that built the hardware. It just took time to create it all.

"Hey Cortana, just got back from Willy's made 19 kills, left maybe 4 survivors along with Willy to spread the word. I need to know if you can rig up some surveillance gear that I can plant in his bar and maybe something that I can plant in the library too."

Cortana sounded confused. "Why would you want to plant bugs in the library? I thought they were your best friends."

"Well they are my friends but since they kicked Jenny out of the group I thought it best to err on the side of caution in case they're keeping anything else from me." He responded not liking the option anymore than she did but it needed to be done.

A few of Cortana's mechanical arms lifted up a case from a worktable. "I thought you might want some gear so I cobbled up a few pieces. Not 26th century but better than anything you'll get in this century. The only problem is that your going to have to plant them in the library, which could be difficult with the amount of time your friends spend in there."

"Don't you worry about that, I'll find a way to get the bugs planted. Just make a few more, I'll plant those ones at various places in the tunnels so we don't have to worry about any surprise guests showing up in town from there." He said as he began picking up extra magazines and grenades. He would need the ammunition for the hunt that he planned tonight. "Cortana do you wanna come on the next leg of the hunt?"

Cortana seemed to think about it for a second before replying. "No Jenny has said that she will be casting several spells on the base tonight, I want to see if I can get a sensor reading on the magical energy that she uses. If I can that will enable me to begin tracing powerful magic's throughout the town."

"Ok, have fun with your sensors. I'll be back later." He shouted as he went back to the garage and drove off in the hummer.

Driving around the town gave Xander a few moments to think and begin planning the rest of the nights assault on the demons of Sunnydale. He decided that any and all that he came across would be killed, no mercy to any demon, since in his mind any demon dumb enough to live on the hellmouth had to be doing something evil.

He knew intellectually that there were demon species out there that just wanted to be left alone to live out their lives. Some even assisted by giving information out to demon hunters on the more evil of their kind out there. But if you lived here where slayers and hunters came to kill demons all the time then you were either very stupid or up to no good.

Xander parked the hummer and locked it up. Wouldn't pay for someone to steal a fully armored hummer cause he forgot to lock the damn door. From here on out he would travel on foot. Though if need be he could always have Cortana take remote control of the vehicle and drive it wherever it was needed.

101010101010

Over at the library Buffy was quickly becoming bored with research and lack of snuggling time with Angel. Reading crummy old books was not her idea of a good time. Also she felt deep within her that she should be out patrolling killing demons and making the town safer.

"Giles, me and Angel are going to go patrol. If this Spartan guy is out there he may be leaving a trail for us to follow." Buffy didn't wait for a response. She was already grabbing stakes and a short sword and was halfway out the door before her words registered in Giles mind.

"Buffy do be careful!" He shouted out to her as she walked out closely followed by Angel. The latter he glared at.

The Slayer and her pet vampire walked towards the nearest cemetery deciding to begin their patrol there. If this Spartan guy was patrolling or hunting then sooner or later they would run into him. Hopefully he was a good guy since by the body count that he left at Willy's would mean that he was extremely powerful. She knew deep down that she herself wouldn't have been able to clear out the bar by herself, well at least not that quickly and it would be one hell of a fight.

Angel walked beside her just basking in the feelings that she created within him. Over two hundred years had he walked this Earth and never before had he felt such love for any living being before. With her around him, or even just the thought of her, calmed his troubled soul. The nightmares that troubled him seemed to be lessened, the thoughts of all the horrible tortures that he inflicted upon the innocent seemed to be banished to the dark corners of his mind.

1010101010101010101010

Boston. A city in shambles with demons and human born criminals waging war nearly every night upon her streets. Her streets ran red with blood as the various factions fought for the right to dominate the city and its innocent inhabitants. Most were only aware of the human side to the war but the few hunters and mages in the city knew of the darker aspect to the battles fought as demons stayed behind the scene pulling strings to get the humans to fight for their cause without their knowledge.

In one of the more upscale regions of the city we find two hunters arguing. Though only one truly knew that she was a hunter the other was still in denial about the demons that ruled the night.

"Faith I am trying to help you! I came to find you and to train you so that you can survive." Lady Linda Pryce nearly shouted at the young girl who stood defiantly in front of her. This child was trying her patience but she kept her temper in check. Linda had had one of her friends in the State Department send her a copy of all files on Faith Leanne and with what she read in there she knew that she had to take things slow in order to gain Faith's trust.

For the past few hours they had been at one of her estates in Boston. Faith had tried numerous times to leave but each time Linda had been able to coax her back by being honest, not turning her over to the cops, and just by trying to be her friend. So far it seemed to be working.

Now it seemed though Faith didn't want anything to do with being the Slayer. She just wanted to live her life the way she saw fit without outside interference from anyone.

Faith retorted that statement. "Ya bullshit you just want a piece of ass, you're just taking the long route to get it by buttering me up with promises. Well it won't work on me got it!"

Linda looked horrified at the mere thought of having sex with a child and the emotion carried over. "Faith I can assure you that I have never wanted to sleep with you or any other child and that will not change ever! I know you don't trust me but I want to change that! Please let me help you."

For a brief moment Faith's resolve to get the hell out of there flickered before coming back. "Listen lady you may have saved me from those things but that doesn't me that I owe you jack, got it! I'm outta here and don't try and stop me!"

"They were vampires." That simple statement stopped Faith in her tracks. "I also know that it was a vampire that killed your mother. I read the police report about it. It fits all the requirements of a vampire attack. You were lucky to have survived it."

"Lucky, LUCKY! How the hell can you call that lucky! I hid in a fucking closet until that thing was gone. Hell no one would even believe me, they tried to send me to fucking jail for what that thing did to my mom." She roared in anger. In a moment of rage she forgot her newfound power and punched a nearby wall smashing a good size hole in the Victorian style wood paneling.

"Faith I know that your angry, hell I would be angry in your place too, but you have to learn to control that anger. Look just stay with me for a week and I swear if by the end of that if you wanna leave I'll let you. But if you stay for that week you have to promise to try and learn. I'll teach you how to control your new powers and I swear I'll help you in anyway that I can. I'm not going to hurt you, will you give me a chance?" Linda pleaded with the dark Slayer, hoping that somehow she would break through to the lost child underneath the rough exterior.

For another moment even with the rage still present deep within her just begging to get out and unleash some damage, she looked like the lost child that she was. One who wanted nothing more than to be accepted and loved, to find a home and flourish in this harsh world. In this moment Faith came to a decision that would forever change her life and take her to places that she could not even begin to imagine. "I'll stay."

"Good. Now I want you to remember your promise. You have to at least try and learn what I have to teach you, okay?" Linda asked.

Faith looked annoyed at being asked again. "Ya I fucking get it. I'll try. Now where do I sleep?"

Linda told Faith to follow her as she walked to one of the upstairs bedrooms. It was a massive room with a queen sized bed, dresser, and even a walk in closet. Also present were clothes, books, and other items that could come in handy like shampoo and soap.

"I hope you don't mind but I took a few guesses on your size and bought some clothes before I found you."

Faith stared around the room in awe that this was now hers. In the back of her mind a little voice was whispering that this was too good to be true, that she would have to watch her back and that eventually this Linda person would start making demands on what kind of rent was required to pay for all this. But until then Faith was determined to take this Lady for all that she could get out of her.

Linda merely watched the childlike glee that washed across the dark Slayer's face as she looked around the room, but she was saddened to see that this glee didn't reach her eyes. Faith was still so wary of the unknown and it was going to take time to break down those walls until she would trust her. Hopefully she would have the time to do that, though she knew that time was an extremely precious thing, especially more so with Slayers who often lead such brief lives after their calling.

"Ok Faith since it's late and you seem a bit tired, I'm going to leave you to get some rest. We'll start your training first thing in the morning. Ok?"

"Ya sure whatever." Faith replied. Still thinking of when the other shoe would drop.

Linda walked down the hall to her room, merely a larger version of Faith's room. She sat down at her desk and once again leafed through the children services file on Faith Lehane. Each and every page was full of abuses and obscenities that should never have been visited upon a child. Dozens of documents of abuse and allegations of sexual abuse by men who had used Faith's mother. For the life of her she couldn't fathom why the courts would continue to let a child live in such conditions.

She decided here and now that she would do everything in her power to give Faith a positive outlook on life. Never again would she be treated as second best or used in such vile and disgusting ways as she was used when she was a child. Though her past may prove to be a slight problem if they ever encountered the police or any other law enforcement agency. Her contacts through the Watcher's Council would prevail in such a situation but it was better to head such things off at the pass before they became a serious problem.

Linda picked up her phone to call her friend over at State. Within a few minutes he picked up.

"Hello?" Trevor White sounded extremely tired, considering it was after midnight and he was still at the office she didn't blame him.

"Hi Trevor its me!"

"Oh Christ what do you want now." He knew this was going to be for a favor, and of course only he could do it. Her past record of favors had got him some promotions but they were always at the worst possible time for him and caused such massive headaches that each time she called he swore it would be the last one.

Linda chuckled into the phone. "Its not that bad."

"If its coming from you and its at 1:30am, ah Christ its early what do you want."

"I just need a minor's file wiped clean and destroyed. Maybe an adoption paper too, to cover up any questions done the road. C'mon you know you want to help me here."

"Do I even want to know why you're asking for this?" He asked as he turned his computer back on. Might as well get it ready for when he caved in and did the favor.

"No probably not. I just need all the files on Faith Lehane wiped from all your records."

"Got any vitals for me to work with or do you expect me to find every Faith Lehane within the United States?" He had already typed the name in and found well over a thousand entries.

"Born January 6, 1982 in Boston. Thanks and tell Grace that I said hi."

"Ya, ya. Talk to ya later. Files should be gone by noon tomorrow. You owe me for this one. I'll work on getting some adoption papers that will take more time though. Give you a call in three or four days about that one, okay?" He asked as he began the process of destroying legal documents so that it couldn't be traced back to him. As regional director for the East Coast he had the authority to do so.

"Thanks again. Talk to you later." Linda hung up knowing that it was now in good hands. Within a few days all records pertaining to Faith would vanish and she could start anew in life without a criminal record hanging over her. Though now she had to call one of her friends back in England, Faith had said a vampire killed her mother. Hopefully the council seers could tell her which one had done it and if he was still around. Faith would love to get her hands on that one.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

The Stargate Command briefing room was rapidly filling up with the military and civilian crew that worked within the top-secret facility. The meeting had been called by General Hammond to discuss the future of the program. In light of the recent capture of SG-1 by Hathor, and their following escape, and after that the treaty summit organized by the Asgard, there were bound to be some changes and it seemed that this meeting would be how they would be planned and implemented.

General Hammond stood at the end of the room in front of a large projection screen showing the SGC logo. "Good morning people. We have a lot of work to do, so lets get to it. As of 0800 hours today, the President has ordered the expansion of the program to include another forty-five SG teams."

Most of the officers had large grins on their faces at this. With the extra manpower available to them they would be able to conduct more missions across a broader section of the galaxy.

"To accommodate all the extra manpower that will be coming into this facility the President has authorized the expansion of the SGC to include several more levels to be constructed within the mountain. These levels will include storage rooms, labs, armories, manufacturing equipment, hydroponics for food, generators, and vehicles for fast response teams."

The officers who had been grinning were being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of equipment that was slated to be brought into the command. It was astonishing but the equipment would be put to good use.

Jack who was sitting near the front of the room spoke up. "Uh...sir? did the President tell us why were getting all this?...I mean with Senator Kinsey's attempts to close us down I thought our budget was being tightened, not expanded."

Hammond nodded, it was a valid question, and it seemed that most of the officers present were thinking the same thing. "That brings me to the other thing that I received today in an official letter from the President. As of 0700 today, the United States of America is officially at war with the Goa'uld System Lords."

Silence greeted this statement. It was true that with the industrial power of the USA and military might behind them they had a better chance of defeating the Goa'uld, but it was the knowledge that the only way for the President to issue such a decree was for him to have used an executive order which would be later ratified by congress. If it weren't ratified then it would be an illegal order. This could prove problematic down the road but for the here and now it was great.

General Hammond continued to speak. "Also in the eventual situation of a major Goa'uld offensive against Earth, the President along with the Joint Chiefs has decided to begin construction of an Alpha Site on a hidden world far from the major empires of the Galaxy. This colony will be manned and populated by the men and families of two US regiments along with all attendant equipment. It is our hope to keep this colony a secret and for it to remain unknown."

The briefing dissolved after this into smaller groups each going over the folders that had been handed out during the session to discuss their future contributions to the SGC. Most would continue in their current jobs but some had their duties expanded well beyond anything that they had expected.

Since the attack on Earth by Apophis had let them capture two partially intact death gliders that were being studied to hopefully one day generate enough intelligence on their systems for the US to begin building their own versions of the starfighter. Until that proved practical it had been decided to create dedicated SG teams to attempt to steal Goa'uld vessels and ships from wherever they could find them. With the extra ships they would have more examples to compare against and hopefully create their own ships faster.

Colonel O'Neill who was reading his folder found something that surprised him greatly prompting him to ask his CO to see if it was true. "Sir, is it true that we're going to be using front line battle tanks and other such vehicles against the snake heads?"

Hammond who was busy answering questions turned to face him to respond. "Yes Colonel it is, with the proper modifications to the vehicles of course. "

"Sweet" Was all that the Colonel had to say in reply to that. His mind was busy planning out scenarios and missions that could be easily accomplished with that sort of firepower.

The Goa'uld had conquered thousands of worlds, seeded thousands of more with their slaves taken from Earth and were considered to be one of the most powerful races in the galaxy. But that would change once the Tauri started using their full potential and military might against them. There is an ancient curse on Earth, "May you live in interesting times" ...well the Goa'uld were about to learn the true meaning of this.

10101010101010101010

Xander moved through the night not making a sound as he quietly stalked his prey. Two vampires were walking through the cemetery boasting to each other how they would kill the Slayer when they ran into her. To bad for them that they only had a few seconds to live. Before they even knew it the first's head was blown off by a three round burst from Xander's assault rifle. The other rapidly looked around trying to figure out what had happened and where it was coming from. He was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of his killer before he was decapitated in a single stroke.

So far it had been a slow patrol through the cemeteries, he had only found fifteen vampires but none that proved to be a challenge. Most were too stupid to even notice him until he opened fire. After taking a few moments to think he decided to head into the tunnels to start clearing out some of the larger nests down there.

Walking over to the nearest manhole he reached down with one hand to grasp it. With a simple flex of his enhanced muscles he ripped the cover up out of the ground nearly bending it in two with the amount of force he placed behind it. Xander made a mental note to himself to train more for small delicate tasks with his strength. He would have to be more careful in the future since he could probably snap a normal person in half if he wasn't careful.

Xander peered down into the darkness before grabbing a grenade off his belt. "Fire in the hole." He whispered to himself. Since there was no one around for him to speak to but it just felt right to say that. The grenade landed in the sewers before detonating with a muffled bang. The concussion grenade did its job and stunned the four large demons that had been walking by. Xander leaped down and hosed them all with a long burst from the assault rifle. He then proceeded to chop their heads off just to make sure that they wouldn't revive later on.

After making sure that the four demons were dead he quickly looked around to see if they had been carrying of value or importance. Finding nothing he melded into the shadows and begin hunting the denizens of the Sunnydale sewers.

He made his way through the extensive tunnel system carefully, killing any demons that he came into contact with. Xander didn't bother with Buffy's normal style of slaying by making quips and jokes, which could warn the demons that he was coming. He simply found a spot where he could to his full advantage the full power of his assault rifle and grenades. If he had warned them then they might have stood a chance or managed to escape him. This way no one could run.

Xander took a small breather to activate his comlink back to Alpha Base. "Cortana I need you to do something."

Cortana who was always monitoring the com frequencies from the MJOLNIR suit answered instantly. "Standing by. What do you need?"

"I need you to hijack a NRO bird and use its ground penetrating radar to give me a full tunnel map." Xander was busy mentally kicking his ass. He should have done this days ago.

"One minute. Attempting to interface with NSA satellite down link……… ……Interface established. It'll take about two minutes to get a full map. Stay where you are so I can focus it on your position." Cortana was busy keeping the people over at the National Security Agency from knowing that one of their precious birds was now no longer under their control.

Orbiting the Earth the Keyhole Satellite was slowly rotating off its previous mission of spying on Columbia when new orders were received. Small thrusters built into the bird rotated it so its ground radar mast was point at a specific point along the western coast of the United States. When it was locked into place the radar slowly began to peel back the layers of the Earth until it was getting a clear picture of tunnels, man made and natural, and caverns and other natural formations buried under the sleepy town of Sunnydale.

All this information was routed down to the NSA, which was intercepted and set through a dozen different routes to end up at the Alpha Base where Cortana began to correlate the data into something useful. Once that was done it was then transmitted down to Xander.

10101010101010

Meanwhile Buffy and Angel were prodding along through the graveyard not really making any attempt at stealth. Both were overconfident in their abilities to handle anything stupid enough to come after them. This would probably eventually be their downfall but to date it had served them well.

"Its pretty quiet out tonight." Buffy pouted. She had been hoping for a little action.

"Maybe they're all busy fighting that Spartan guy." Angel offered trying to appease her. He said exactly the wrong thing.

"Ya I still don't understand why would this guy come to MY town!" Buffy whined. This was her town. She was the Slayer so she should be the one protecting it. Not some gung-ho idiot using guns.

Angel had nothing to say in reply to that so they just continued to walk in silence for a little while longer. Angel just happened to be looking down when he saw something that took his mind a few seconds to understand. "Buffy look at this."

Buffy looked down at the twisted pile of metal in front of her. "What is it?"

"I think it's a manhole cover. It was probably done by that Spartan guy."

"Well that clinches it. No human would have that kind of strength so he has to be a demon. So that means I get to slay it." With that she jumped down the manhole, Angel of course following her, and into the darkness.

"Ewww. Its disgusting down here." Buffy looked around hoping for some way of getting out of the nasty smelling liquid that sloshed around her ankles.

"Buffy I got four dead demons here. They've all been shot and decapitated. It would seem that the Spartan did come this way." Angel looked down at the bodies of the demons. They couldn't have been dead for very long. Their bodies hadn't even begun to dissolve yet.

"So which way do we go?" Buffy asked as she strained her Slayer senses to try and figure it out herself. But before she could figure it out Angel spoke.

"We go this way." He said while pointing down at a blood trail on the tunnel floor. Angel could smell the cordite and the scent of blood in that direction was the strongest.

1010101010101010

Down the tunnels Xander was busy reorienting himself with his new map. He figured that some of the larger caverns would be the locations of the nests and he headed in their direction. Tonight he would try and clear out at least two nests more. Since he only had two more grenades that would be all that he could take before he had to fall back to rearm. Mental note to get more grenades ready for another excursion he reminded himself.

Rounding the corner in the tunnel Xander stopped to use the light amplification sensors in his helmet to get a good look at what he faced in the next chamber. Fifteen demons clad in billowing robes were clustered around a roaring green fire. The instant that he saw the weird color of the flame alerted him to its magical origins. He would have to make sure to kill as many as he could as fast as he could. Mages would probably have the power to do serious harm to him if they got a spell off in time.

Xander reached into the backpack portion of his suit and withdrew a fresh magazine for his rifle. After loading it he slowly drew a bead on what appeared to be the leader, the guy with the most fancy robes, he locked the sight on the demons forehead. Xander took a deep breath, slowly released it and pulled the trigger. This sent a single 7.62mm armor piercing round through the demons head. The demons head exploded when the bullet went through it, the others stopped their chant to watch stunned as what remained of their leader fell to the cavern floor.

Before they had a chance to figure out what was happening Xander switched to full auto and began sweeping the cavern. He sent bursts of ammo towards any groups that formed, keeping them confused and scared he tossed a concussion grenade to break their spirits. The grenade bounced into the middle of the room before exploding sending the demons flying across the room into each other and into the unforgiving walls.

Angel and Buffy were slowly following the trail of blood and gore that coated the tunnels floor and walls. The sounds of rapid gunfire from farther down goaded them into breaking into a light jog. They could hear agonizing screams that cut off quickly. An explosion rocked the tunnel slamming them into the ground.

Xander had just finished off the last of the demons when his sensors told him that there were two more unknowns rapidly closing in on his position. He grabbed the rifle and latched onto his back drawing his pistols. The sensor pack had identified one of the incoming as a human so that could only mean that it was the slayer.

Xander was thinking quickly. Not wanting to be caught this soon into his rampage on the demon underworld he had to find away to disguise the armor. Buffy would recognize it the instant she saw it. As he paced back and forth his armored boot hit one of the demon corpses. One of the robed demons, he quickly began stripping the bodies of their robes which he then draped them across his armor hiding it.

"Cortana I have a slight problem here." Xander spoke quickly into the comlink. "Is there anyway to change the face shield coloring. Buffy would know its me the instant she sees that."

"Accessing MJOLNIR camouflage programs. The face shield coloring will be changed to black. Is that sufficient or do you want to choose your coloring." Cortana's voice had a slight sarcastic edge to it. Xander ignored it for now but he was going to find someway of pulling a practical joke off on her if it killed him. With the robes covering him he now looked a lot like the grim reaper, though one armed with two futuristic pistols.

Well here we go he thought as the Slayer and her pet vampire, as he thought of Angel in his mind, came running around the corner.

Buffy and Angel came to a halt when they entered the small cavern. The ground was covered in demon blood and body pieces. In the center of the room was a green flame, probably magical, that was slowly dieing down. With all the mage's dead and no power to feed it, it was dying. Standing behind the flame clad in billowing robes that looked similar to the demons robes was the Spartan. He was huge well over seven feet tall.

The Spartan spoke before she had time to say anything. "Hello Slayer, I see you brought your pet vampire out to play. What can I do for you this fine evening?"

Buffy looked a little flustered at Angel being referred to as her pet vampire but she moved past it quickly enough. "You can stand still while I slay your ass that's what you can do for me."

"And why would you want to kill me. I have done nothing to you or your friends. I've been out hunting demons and vampires which I believe is your job as well."

"You're a demon. No human could do that much damage and survive without getting killed so that means I get to slay you." Buffy retorted. She was wondering to herself why she was arguing with the demon instead of just kicking his ass around the room. But something was telling her that if she tried that she might not win this fight.

The Spartan tilted his head to the side as he digested her statement. "You think that I'm not human and that I should die for that. Well if that's your way of looking at things then kill the demon standing beside you. He's not human so why is he still alive?"

Angel looked a little shocked at this. He turned to face Buffy to see what she would make of this. Buffy's face was contorted with rage that this demon would dare to mock her, to try and use her own logic against her. "That's different. Angel has a soul. He helps me!"

"I have a soul. So that means by your own rules that you cannot hurt me or do you only make special exceptions for demons named Angel?" The Spartan replied sarcastically.

Angel moved around the fire to move up closer to the Spartan. "You don't talk to her in that tone. Apologize or I'll make you."

"Make me demon."

"Don't call me that. I'm not a demon. I have a soul!" Angel nearly shouted this as he came within arms reach of the Spartan.

Before Angel could react one of the Spartan's hands shot out and grabbed him around the throat squeezing extremely tightly. "You are as you have always been, a mere demon. Do not provoke me further. It is by my will alone that you survive this encounter. Be well advised to remember that." With that the Spartan threw Angel over the fire to slam into the ground beside Buffy.

"I have no quarrel with you Slayer, do not create one." The Spartan moved around the fire towards the tunnel.

Buffy merely stood there and watched him go. When he was gone she helped Angel back to his feet. "We should get back to Giles and tell him what happened."

Angel merely nodded at this. His larynx had been crushed so he couldn't talk at all. It would take a few hours before it was healed even with the speed of this vampire healing abilities. The two of them quickly made their way back to the surface in time to hear a large vehicle speeding off into the night.

Once back at the library Buffy began to tell the tale of how the Spartan threatened them and Angel. "He said that he had no quarrel with me and for me to not make one. He threatened me right to my face and he almost killed Angel. It has to be a demon."

Giles who had been mentally smirking at what happened to Angel spoke up at this. "You said that he proclaimed to have a soul. If that is true then he is not a demon. The Slayer spirit was created to fight demons not mankind. The council would take a very dim view of you fighting humans."

Buffy pouted at this but she knew deep down that if it came down to a fight between her and this Spartan guy it would not be an easy victory for her if one at all. "Fine but I still don't trust him."

"Well very good. We'll continue looking for any references to him in the books and if you see him again try to get some information on him. Anything at all would be good at this point." Giles said as he went back to his books. He had an extremely important prophecy to decipher tonight. Something about a White Knight and the champion who would become his bride.

Xander returned to the surface a few moments before the Slayer, having asked Cortana to send the hummer to his position, he got into the vehicle and sped off back towards Alpha Base. After arriving and locking the car down in the garage he went into the main room to speak to Cortana.

Cortana's avatar was scowling at something on the screen as he approached. "Something wrong?"

"Yes, Jenny cast several spells tonight to increase the strength of the wards and as I told you I was going to take some sensor readings on them to see what I could find out. But the scanners couldn't register anything happening at all. Its very frustrating."

"I guess science and magic don't go together. Where is Jenny anyway?" Xander asked as he looked around the empty room.

"I think she went to bed already. It is pretty late in the evening." Cortana replied. She was busy examining some records on the cloning experiments that had been conducted by INGEN. Some of the technology was centuries beyond what should be possible at this point in the development of mankind. She was determined to figure out from where they got it.

"Well I'm going to do some maintenance on the MJOLNIR suit then I'm going to head to bed." Xander walked over to a worktable that had been set up with all of the tools needed to maintain the armor and began to get to work.

1010101010101010

The next morning over in Boston Faith was having the time of her life. Linda had said that training would begin in the morning but she hadn't said it would be this much fun. First she had woken up and was able to have a hot shower, something that had been lacking when she lived on the streets. After that Faith had been treated to an all you could eat breakfast of eggs, ham, bacon, and toast. Food that good was something that she truly missed when raiding dumpsters and going to shelters to get something to eat.

Once all that was done Linda had taken her down to the full-fledged gym built as an addition to the mansion. It was here that Linda began to show her how to handle a sword in battle. The blade was a part of her and moved like it had been born to be held in her hands.

Linda stood off to the side as she watched Faith go through the simple drills that she had taught her so far. She looked somewhat like a child in a toy store when she had shown her all the weapons that she said she would teach to her. Faith had go to the swords and other bladed weapons right off the bat.

After several hours of sword training Linda called a halt to it. "Faith I think its time that I showed you the best weapon that you could use to kill demons." Linda brought out a small gun case and laid it out on a table. Faith stood close by to see what was in it. "This is a Fabrique Nationale Five-seveN. It uses a 5.7 mm bullet developed for Enforcement Units and Special Forces, and due to being designed to pierce military-rated protection, has enough force to punch through the natural armor of most demons out there. Now most hunters say that a .45 caliber is better but this is easier to conceal and carry. I'll take you down to the range and we'll test it out, ok?"

Faith nodded her assent and followed Linda downstairs to a small shooting range. "Now Faith you have to remember that a gun is a very dangerous weapon. Be careful about what you aim at, and don't go around just spraying bullets at a target. Most times only a single bullet is needed if you aim for the correct spot."

On the far end of the range wall was a variety of targets set up to resemble various demon races. Some areas on the demons body were painted different colors to indicate what would be a wounding shot and what would be a kill shot.

"Ok Faith now take the Five-seveN and aim down range. Since it's your first time using it I'll let you fire off a few shots before I start correcting any mistakes. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the weapon."

Faith again just nodded before picking the gun up and aiming down towards the first target. When she saw the first target her blood froze in her veins. Standing there was a cardboard cutout of a human wearing a long black leather duster and all black clothing. His face was one that had haunted her for so many years. The face of her mother's killer. He had a sharply defined face with bleached white hair that was slicked back.

Linda noticed that Faith had froze. "Faith is that him? Is that the one who killed your mother?"

Faith couldn't take her eyes off the target. "Its him. That's the bastard that killed my ma." With that she quickly targeted him with the gun and began firing at the cutout. All twenty rounds screamed down range and impacted tearing the cardboard into shreds. "Is that thing still alive, and if so where the fuck is he! I'm going to kill him for what he did to my mother." She screamed tears running down her cheeks. Linda swiftly drew Faith into a hug as she tried to comfort the distraught young Slayer. "Shhhh. Its ok. Yes he's still alive and I've already called the council to see what I could dredge up on him. He's called Spike and my contacts in the council are attempting to see if they can find him. But its going to be awhile before you face him, you should know that he has killed two Slayers in the past."

Faith stared at the destroyed remains of the cardboard cutout. "Well this Slayer is going to be the death of him. I swear it!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

It had been close to two months since the first appearance of the mysterious Spartan. Since then the death rate amongst demons and vampires had went up nearly one thousand percent. Every night he would hunt and destroy vampires, demons, and their nests. Since he had arrived on the scene the amount of various demons coming to town had dropped off considerably. The legend was growing and spreading quickly of a new hunter who was much more ruthless than the Slayer could ever be.

Ever since Xander and Cortana had set up in Alpha base they had continued to attempt to build 26th century technology from components of 20th century tech. They had had some successes and some failures but for the most part the equipment needed for them to continue the fight against the demons and vampires of the night was constructed. Cortana as she always thought to plan ahead always made spares and complete doubles of anything that she managed to create. Once she had a fully operation medical facility online she created a double and had it shipped to a secondary warehouse on the other side of the continent where it would remain until such time as it was needed. Other pieces were doubled and sent off as well. If ever Alpha base should fall and they survive they could simply head to the new base and begin the fight all over again no worse the wear save any injuries sustained during the fall of Alpha.

Buffy and Angel's relationship was slowly proceeding on course towards disaster though there was no way for either of them to know of the clause hidden deep within the original spell used to curse him with a soul for the sins of the demon Angelus.

With the massive drop-off in demons and vampires to fight it made for an easier social life in Buffy's life, which she was happy to have but she still resented the fact that she only had the Spartan to thank for that. Though one slight problem had occurred thanks to him, the low level demons might have started running for the hills but that didn't prevent the more powerful ones from coming to Sunnydale looking for a good fight.

They were currently fighting a group of Polgaran demons who had coming looking for the prestige of killing the Spartan. It was just their luck that they ran into Buffy and Angel first.

"Buffy! Duck." Angel shouted as he kicked one of the demons over Buffy's head.

Buffy dropped to the ground as the seven-foot demon flew over her head to crash into the side of a crypt. She quickly regained her feet and staked the polagaran in the head with her stake. Their natural armor prevented her from going for a strike to the heart, if she could even find the heart on them, so she went for the only other exposed sure kill shot. After killing it she jumped back into the fray, the bodies of two other polagaran's were spread around the cemetery but there was still two remaining and they were tough to kill.

Angel ducked under the arm of one to get behind it and swiftly wrapped his hands around the demons neck, snapping it easily with his vampiric strength. The demon slumped to the ground dead; this only left the largest one most likely their leader as well. This one was well over 9 feet tall and his body was covered in scars denoting that he had survived a hell of a lot of fights in his time.

Buffy and Angel circled around the demon waiting for an opening to present itself. The demon watched them warily knowing that these two could kill him if he made a mistake. It was somewhat of a standoff, the two demon hunters were tired from the fight but could still fight, and the old demon knew that he couldn't fight the both of them at once without leaving himself open to attack.

Buffy was breathing quite hard, the fight having taken a lot out of her. These things were quite strong and having to dodge their blades was extremely difficult. She had a few slashing cuts to her new clothes, not to mention to the skin underneath. Angel was no better off having been stabbed a number of times, though since his internal organs were all dead it didn't kill him as it would her.

Buffy was about to charge the demon to see if she could somehow knock it off balance for Angel to kill when it's head simply exploded. The remaining body slumped to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Both of them quickly began looking around to see who or what had done that but after a few seconds Angel turned to look at the remaining portion of the demons head. "I think I know who killed him."

Buffy who was still looking around for the new threat answered him without looking at him. "Who?"

"The Spartan, this looks a lot like a gunshot wound. But I've never seen one this bad and I didn't hear a gunshot so that means it's a weapon with a silencer."

"Damn, well I guess that means that he's still here in town then. So much for that rumor that he had moved on to Boston." Buffy said calmly though internally she was fuming that this outsider was still in her town. Ever since Angel had heard of the rumor of a new demon hunter in Boston who used guns they had all thought it was the Spartan who had merely moved on. But since he just saved their asses that would mean that there was another hunter out there that used guns.

Angel stood from his place over the dead body that was beginning to dissolve. "We should go tell Giles this, he'll want to know this as soon as possible."

Buffy agreed with him, not liking the fact that their patrol was cut short, so they both began to walk back towards the library to report on what they knew.

Back at the library after telling their story Giles was a little disturbed to hear of the trend of powerful demons heading for the hellmouth. Something would have to been done about that or sooner or later one of the more powerful demons was going to win. Though there was one slightly good side to this, most of the more powerful demons did not want the return of the Old Ones to Earth, as that would mean them losing their power. So the Hellmouth was in fact a little safer than ever before.

Giles was thinking furiously about the reports of ancient demon burial grounds being excavated and reports of things being sent towards Sunnydale. "I want you two to go back and continue your patrol. I've received some information that someone is attempting to smuggle in ancient artifacts of demonic origins. I want you two to see if you can find out anything or if possible intercept the shipments."

"Giles, its midnight!" Buffy whined, obviously expecting Giles to cave and let her go home. She was in for a rude surprise.

"Yes its midnight which means approximately six more hours of darkness left until sunrise. It's also Friday so I know you don't have anything to do tomorrow. I may allow you to cut patrol early on weeknights but you have a duty to patrol for the remainder of the night to prevent people from being harmed. You should be glad that I do not enforce traditional Slayer hours upon you. Now resume your patrol." Giles stated in a calm voice.

Buffy looked stunned at being talked to in such a voice but still managed to nod before turning to walk out of the library. Angel was following behind trying to find something to cheer her up but failing to think of anything so he remained silent.

No one noticed the small nearly microscopic listening device that was planted under the table which had been placed there nearly two months ago by Xander when he still been a full member of the Scooby gang. Ever since Halloween Buffy had been slightly phasing him out of the patrolling and then after that she began moving him out researching as well. When he confronted her about it in private she said that she couldn't keep protecting him. Xander just walked away after that, not really arguing but not agreeing with her.

Xander was driving around the town looking for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Though in Sunnydale that was harder than most people would assume. He had been listening in on the discussion over at the library and now he was curious about the mention by Giles of demon artifacts making their way to Sunnydale.

He wanted to find the artifacts and destroy them if possible but he simply lacked the contacts in the demon underworld to do so. Jenny had a few people that she could talk to that would help but she was currently in Europe trying to retrieve help from the clan elders in the form of a copy of the curse on Angelus. So he decided to head for Willy's bar to see what he knew about it, if he knew something then he wouldn't trash the place, and if he knew nothing then the place got trashed.

Willy's bar was back in business after the first meeting with the Spartan. Most of the demons who came here now were the ones of the more peaceful races who wanted nothing to do with the Slayer or various demon hunters out there. They only wanted to be left alone. The door slammed open to reveal the Spartan in all his armor. The room instantly quieted down. No one wanted to take the chance of drawing his attention towards him or herself.

"Willy so good to see you again." The armored hunter said as he walked towards the bar.

Willy standing behind the bar began to get more and more nervous the closer that the Spartan got to him. A natural reaction to a guy who had threatened to kill him more than once. Willy tried not to stutter as he replied. "Ya good to see you too. What do you want?" Hoping to get this over as soon as possible.

"Well I heard an interesting rumor today. Seems you've been holding out on me. Now I thought we had a deal going." The voice was becoming more and more menacing as he spoke. The various demons in the bar bolted for the door leaving Willy to his fate. They had no quarrel with the Spartan but they could tell that he wasn't in the greatest mood by his tone and they weren't sticking around for him to take his frustration out on them.

"I'm keeping my end of the deal! I swear it." Willy blubbered. To his thinking he had been keeping the deal. Anything that he thought was important was passed on, though if the Spartan didn't ask about it he didn't offer it. And now it was coming back to bite him in the ass.

"You're lying. I've heard about the artifacts that are being smuggled into town. You either tell me everything that you know or you die where you stand."

Willy knew that no matter what he did he was going to die. So he spilled the beans. "Its Spike and his nutso woman. They've been bringing these boxes in from around the world. They're supposed to contain a weapon that can kill the entire human race off by itself."

"What's this weapon called?" He asked.

"The Judge." Willy said as fast as he could. Hoping that if he cooperated that maybe the Spartan would give him a head start to get out of town or something.

The Spartan didn't say anything he merely turned and walked out the door closing it as he did so. Willy stayed where he was waiting to hear the sound of a large car leaving letting him know as always that the Spartan was truly gone.

Once back in the hummer, Xander commed Cortana asking her to begin a search through the database on a demon weapon known as the Judge. From the way that Willy talked about it it sounded pretty powerful so there had to be a record somewhere.

Cortana couldn't find an answer in any book or database hooked into her systems. So she made a suggestion. "Xander since I can't find anything I think you're going to have to ask Giles if he knows about it."

Xander mulled it over for a few seconds. "Damn, I was hoping to not have to go to them for help. Guess I have no choice. Ok I'll head on over there; you call Jenny and get an update on when she's going to be back. Also see if she or the Romany know anything about this Judge thing."

He changed directions pulling a sharp U-turn to head for the school. Tonight the Scooby's would find out that he was the Spartan. This would not be a good night for him. So far he had been able to avoid them and not interfere in their patrols other than the fact that he got there first and killed every demon before they did. It only took him a few minutes to drive to the school. Once there he parked as close as he could get to library without driving through the building. He smiled as he remembered hearing the story about how Cordelia had done just that. He quickly lost that smile as he considered the massive shouting match that he knew was going to happen when Buffy found out whom he was.

Giles was the first to notice him. He had gotten up to grab another book from his office and saw him standing there by the doors. A seven-foot tall man incased in futuristic black armor carrying a massive gun in his hands. Willow noticed that Giles had stopped moving and looked up to see what was going on and she saw the armored man as well only she quickly figured it out.

"Of course! Spartan, Spartan 117. Its Xander!" Willow nearly shouted. Both Giles and Oz looked confused at this trying to figure out how it could be Xander in the armor. Oz took a few minutes to mull it over before he remembered one of his band mates was into this game called Halo where the main character was referred to as Spartan 117 and that Xander had went as the Master Chief for Halloween.

Willow rushed up close to Xander and began pummeling him with her tiny fists. "You big meanie. You should have told us it was you in that armor. How could you keep that from us!"

"Willow get away from him, it might not be Xander. You told me that the MJOLNIR armor was green, he's wearing black armor." Giles said as he reached for a crossbow. It was a primitive weapon to use but it was all he had within reach.

The armored figure merely reached up with a single hand to remove his helmet to reveal Xander's grim face underneath. "Hey gang. Willow stop hitting me."

Willow who was still upset about not being told didn't reply to him at all as she went back to her seat. She sat down and crossed her arms looking like a spoiled child as she did so.

"Giles I need your help. I was down at Willy's trying to get some information on demon artifacts and he told me about some new weapon being brought into town by Spike that could wipe out all of humanity known as the Judge. So far I haven't been able to find any info on it, I was hoping that maybe you would know something that I could use to destroy it." Xander stated in a no nonsense voice. He was here on business not pleasure.

Giles was thinking furiously, racking his mind for any mention of a demonic weapon known as the Judge. The word was familiar to him, for it kept tickling the back of his mind trying to tell him something but every time he tried to call up the memory it vanished. It was most distressing that he couldn't remember it. "Hmm, it does sound familiar but I'm unable to remember it offhand. I guess that means another round of research."

Xander stood near the table that until a few months ago held many happy memories of nights sitting around joking laughing with the gang as they tried to decipher some ancient riddle to hopefully find the information needed to defeat the big bad of the week. He felt a little flutter deep within him that he was no longer apart of that group but it was quickly quashed by the weight of the Spartan training that he had inherited. He had a greater duty to the survival of the human race. He sighed. "Fine lets get this over with. I'll start scanning the books, Cortana will correlate the data and then I can determine a course of action."

"You will not use that infernal machine to 'scan' my books. Need I remind you of what happened the last time we 'scanned' a book into the computer system." Giles looked mildly upset at the mere thought of scanning council books into a computer system outside of his control.

"Giles if I scan the books then they will be translated, filed and organized in a way for me to better utilize the information in a manner which will allow for easier researching." Xander stated in a no nonsense voice. While Giles tried to come up with a reasonable response Xander merely picked a book up from the table and began scanning.

The others watched as Xander slowly scanned page after page. Since they had nothing else to do they each picked up a book and began reading, trying to find something useful. This would continue on for nearly three hours, no one talking other than to ask for another book or muttered curses as they failed once again to find anything.

At the end of three hours was when Buffy and Angel returned to the library. Buffy came through the swinging doors to see a sight that she never thought to see again. Xander was sitting at the table running some sort of device over the books. The thing that ruined this picture was that Xander was clad in the same armor that the Spartan was rumored to wear. The only time that she had ever seen him was when he wore the robes in that cave the first time. Her mind quickly pieced the clues together of the armor and Xander.

"XANDER! Why the hell didn't you tell me that it was you? And why did you threaten Angel that first night?" Buffy nearly screamed as she rushed across the room to attempt to grab his arm. She pulled her hand back after receiving a massive electrical shock when she came into contact with the energy shielding surrounding his body armor.

"I threatened him cause he is a vampire. A vampire is nothing more than an animated corpse; hence they have no right to life. Angel is a vampire with the soul of a man who should have died over two hundred years ago. That is all." Xander said barely sparing her a glance.

"Giles, why is he here?" Buffy raged. She was used to getting her own way all the time. Her becoming the Slayer had merely increased that.

"Buffy he's here because he heard of a very real threat and he didn't have the resources to find out any information about it. So he came here to ask for my help in researching it. We're attempting to find anything about a demon weapon called the Judge." Giles said as he walked over to the stacks to grab a book mentioned in the one he was currently reading.

Angel who as always was skulking about in the shadows stopped dead at the mention of the Judge. "Did you say The Judge?"

Everyone looked up to stare at the vampire. Giles quickly found his voice and asked the question. "Yes, The Judge. What do you know about it?"

"It was before my time. The Judge is supposed to be an incredibly ancient demon capable of 'burning' the humanity out of you. The legends say that it took an army of thousands to kill him. The body was dismembered into pieces that were buried in every corner of the Earth. Though that's merely the legend." Angel answered as he tried to remember if there was anything else that he knew.

Giles walked back down from the stacks with a book that described everything that Angel had just stated. "That legend is true. An army of knights dismembered the body since they could not kill the demon. No weapon forged can kill it."

Xander was using his neural link to discuss this with Cortana. "No weapon forged huh. Well we'll just have to introduce him to the 26th century. Now where would he be?"

Oz spoke up at this. "Well if he plans on making a body count then there's really only one place to be."

Sunnydale Mall. The crowds were massive this time of year as people rushed through the crowded stores attempting to find that one perfect gift for their loved ones. Of course people were also trying to keep their tempers under control as they pushed and shoved their way through. This time of year was hard on everyone; the staff was extremely tired of answering the same damn questions over and over again. The customers were tired of the crowds and lines and were just wishing to get the hell out of there with their sanity intact.

The elevators opened in to reveal to the masses attempting to get a massive man covered in black armor holding a huge machine gun in his hands. The crowd quickly parted as he moved forward heading deeper into the mall his head moving from side to side as if searching for something.

Over at the movie theatre, barely anyone noticed as a blue creature with small bumps on his head stood at the top of a set of stairs on a landing overlooking them. Flanking him were a half dozen vampires most in game face, though the powerful Master Vampires Spike and Drusilla stayed in the 'masks' that made them appear human. The Judge stepped forward and raised his hands palm down towards the crowd. "And now I shall cleanse you from the very face of the Earth." As he said this a stream of yellowish energy stream shot out of his hands to hit one man and then slowly grow in strength to strike every man woman and child in the room. The energy stream grew in strength with every passing second until it seemed that everyone would burst into flames from the sheer amount of power coursing through him or her. All of a sudden a crossbow bolt slammed into the Judge breaking his concentration freeing everyone from the energy stream.

The Judge contemptuously removed the quarrel snapping it in two as he looked over at the Slayer and her pathetic gang of do gooders standing near the refreshment stand with the Slayer for some idiotic reason stood up on top of the popcorn maker.

"Did you really think to stop me with this. No weapon forged can defeat me!" Boasted the Judge as he began drawing in the power needed to fry the Slayer. A voice that sounded like death itself spoke.

"That was then, this is now. Welcome to the 20th century."

The Judge looked behind the Slayer to see a massive figure in armor aim a tube shaped device at him.

"What is that?"

A rocket screamed across the short distance to detonate on contact with the Judge's skin. The blast was more than powerful enough to rip his body to shreds, most pieces no larger than a humans fist. Others were so small they couldn't be seen with the naked eye. The vampires attempted to run, pushing and shoving their desperate scramble to save their miserable lives. Spike and Dru shoved the minions behind them as they dove through the upper level doors into the parking garage. As the doors closed the both of them heard the sounds of automatic weapons fire, a few stray bullets punched through the flimsy wooden doors trying to kill them but they had already ran away from the immediate area.

Back inside Buffy was seething as Xander ordered her and the gang to begin collecting demon body parts. She should have been the one to destroy the Judge. It was her destiny to defeat the demons and the vampires, she had been the one chosen to become the Slayer. Xander had only become a demon hunter after some stupid spell went wrong, and he was probably only doing this to impress her anyway she thought to herself as she picked up a particularly gruesome piece of carcass.

Xander looked around, trying to see if any of the Judge pieces were important looking or if he could find the head. After reading up on the legend he had determined that if he kept the pieces separate then the Judge could not reform itself. So he had decided to attempt to destroy apiece permanently, hopefully an important one like the head or torso. He reached down and lifted up what appeared to be the head.

The Judge's eyes opened and glared up at the visage of the hunter that had destroyed his body. Xander just stared back accepting the glare without flinching in the slightest, of course the reflective visor of his armor allowed him to look away without being seen doing so. This piece would do, a plasma torch or other such device should suffice in vaporizing the demon corpse for all time.

Xander was turning to leave with the demon head when Buffy stepped in front of him. "And where do you think your going mister. We're going to have a nice long chat about why you didn't tell me about you having that nifty suit!" Buffy looked really annoyed as she stood there with her arms crossed and tapping one foot in an impatient manner.

"Why do I have to tell you everything that happens in my life?" Xander asked truly curious as to what her response would be.

"I'm the Slayer and I'm your friend. You should have told me. We could have found a spell to remove all those implant dealies and then I could use the suit and keep you from getting hurt!" Buffy said trying to appear to be reasonable but not quite pulling it off.

Xander just chuckled. "Buffy you do know that if you attempted to remove the implants that it would kill me don't you? And as to the MJOLNIR armor, its fitted in such a way that only the proper wearer can use it and also its tuned to my neural patterns so that means that you can never use it."

Buffy was starting to look more and more annoyed as Xander shot down all of her reasons for her getting control of the suit. "But your just the normal one you shouldn't have to fight. Its my destiny not yours!"

His eyes behind his face shield turned cold and hard, though they couldn't see them they could instantly feel the change in the air surrounding him as he spoke. "Yes, I am the normal one. Normal people choose to fight and sacrifice their lives everyday and now so have I. I will fight this war until the day I die. It is my choice and that is the one thing you cannot take from me, choice!" With that he turned on his heel walking out of the mall carrying the head of the Judge with him, presumably to be destroyed as soon as he figured out how.

Buffy and the rest of the gang watched as he walked away in silence. Though they didn't truly understand it but something momentous had happened tonight that would forever have repercussions on the fate of the Earth.

Xander was driving around town trying to get his raging temper under control before returning to Alpha base. How dare she try to take his right to choose from him? Ever since she had come to town his life had gone to shit. Though he couldn't really blame her, he could blame Angel for pulling his cryptic bullshit instead of standing up and fighting like a man. Because of that his brother in all ways save blood had died that first night, being turned into one of those demonic creatures. He swore that night over the ashes of Jesse that he would fight until every last one of those things was wiped from the face of the Earth.

The sound of his cell phone ringing brought him back to reality. He looked down at the call display hoping that it wasn't Buffy or the gang, it wasn't. The call display showed a number that was burned into his brain since childhood, the number of Jesse McNally.

He picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Xander is that you?" Came the reply from a voice that he knew well. It was Jesse's mother; the woman that he had wished for years was his own mother Nancy McNally.

"Hi, Mrs McNally how are you doing tonight?" He asked as he lazily changed lanes heading back towards Alpha base.

"Well not so good actually. I was wondering if you could help me. I know you're busy but this is really important." The tone of her voice told him that she was really upset about something so he quickly pulled a U-turn to head in the direction of her house.

"I'll be right there, 5 minutes tops. Ok?" He asked as he weaved in and out of traffic picking up speed. The McNally's usually didn't call him ever since he had told them the truth of what happened to their son, Jesse, but after a few months they had slowly grown to accept the truth and eventually apologized for all of the yelling and screaming of that day.

"Ok the door will be open as always." With that she hung up. The desperation in her voice goaded Xander into pushing the hummer to its limits. Expecting the worst he didn't even bother to take the MJOLNIR armor off before getting there. They had known that he hunted demons, so it shouldn't come as too big of a surprise to them that he wore armor to protect himself.

Xander pulled into the driveway of his childhood friend's home at a fast clip, flinging open the door to the hummer even as he slammed on the brakes. As soon as the vehicle came to a stop he was running towards the door carrying the MA5B Assault Rifle in his hands ready for anything that was threatening this home.

Xander nearly tore the front door off its hinges as he charged through it quickly scanning the room for threats. There were none, only Nancy McNally sitting on the living room couch.

"Xander?" She asked, looking a little fearful as this armored creature invaded her home. She hoped it was Xander but she couldn't be sure.

Xander after quickly glancing around and seeing no threats reached up and pulled his helmet off. "Ya, you said you needed my help with something?" As he was talking he latched his assault rifle to the specialized clamps on his back and moved to stand in front of the couch.

"Yes I did. It's about Carolyn. She dropped out of university and has joined some cult group out in Seattle." As she said this she was wringing her hands so hard that Xander could hear the knuckles cracking and popping as she did so. He remembered that she always wrung her hands when she was worried or upset, over the years as he was growing up with Jesse he could remember many times that the two of them had been responsible for her doing just that.

Nancy watched Xander's face carefully as he remembered all those memories. She smirked a bit as she continued her tale. "I know that your really busy these days hunting those things that took Jesse from us but I was wondering if you could go and try and talk some sense back into Carolyn. Joseph already went out to Seattle and tried but he couldn't get through to her."

Xander looked a little pained as he replied. "Are you sure you're not overreacting. It might not be a cult, it could just be a few college kids having a good time before they get on with their lives."

"Xander I know I'm not overreacting. It's a cult that's brainwashed my little girl. There leader is some nutcase that thinks he's a god and wants all his followers to be prepared to fight in the upcoming Celestial war to reclaim the Earth for him. It's all bullshit, but I want my daughter out of there. Joseph tried to get her out but they SHOT at him and he had to run for his life."

He had been patiently listening up to this point, trying to not jump to any conclusions but when he heard about the God bit he started to get a little worried. Xander could remember years ago when he was playing with Jesse as a kid, when he had a huge crush on Carolyn, of all the fun that the three of them had over the years. It would seem that this cult was the real deal and he should probably investigate it. If it did turn out to be brainwashing people then he would shut it down no matter what.

"I'll take a trip up to Seattle and I'll see if I can do something. Is Joseph still up there?" Xander was already making plans on what bring with him and to try and figure out a way of deprogramming someone who had been brainwashed.

Nancy was looking extremely hopeful at this point, she remembered Xander's crush on Carolyn though it had faded over the years as he began to regard her more as a older sister than as a potential girlfriend and had counted on it to get him to agree to help out. Though he would have probably helped out anyway she knew that the mere mention of Carolyn in a cult would have had him up in arms ready to help her. "Yes, Joseph is still in Seattle. He's been trying to get the town sheriff to help him get Carolyn out but he's had no success yet. Thank you so much for agreeing to help us!"

"Don't worry. I'll bring her back home safe and sound." Xander replied as he placed his helmet back on his head. After saying goodbye he left to get ready for his trip to Seattle in the morning.

After arriving back at Alpha base Xander quickly began packing equipment and weaponry. Cortana noticed this.

"Um just what the hell are you doing?"

"Got a mission. We're heading up towards Seattle to go rescue a childhood friend of mine. Carolyn McNally is the sister of Jesse, probably the best friend I ever had, he was like a brother to me. I won't let some crackpot who thinks he's a god get her hurt or killed. So get ready to go, call Jenny and tell her we'll be out of town for a few days and put the base security on autonomous mode and get yourself ready to go as well."

"And what exactly should I pack. Its not like I have a body so I don't need clothes." She replied sarcastically as she carried out the tasks assigned to her.

"I don't know and I don't care. Just pack yourself up and get ready for a long drive to Seattle." Xander barked as he walked over towards the armory and began sorting through weapons and equipment that he wanted to bring along with him.

Cortana's voice emanated from a nearby wall-mounted speaker sounding a little annoyed. "You do realize that driving in a military grade armored Hummer down a state highway is going to result in your getting pulled over right? And I can't wait to see the reaction of the cops when they see what your hauling in the trunk. What do you plan on doing about that hmm?"

"I don't know, how bout lie?" He replied sarcastically as he weighed the options in his head about bringing the rocket launcher versus the sniper rifle. He took the rocket launcher; you never know when you might need to make a new door.

"Besides with all the little 'upgrades' you've made to the hummer I doubt any hick town cop is going to catch us. Probably too damn busy stuffing his face with donuts anyway." That last bit was send under his breath showing his extremely low opinion of cops in general though to be fair up until today all he had to compare cops against was the Sunnydale police department which was legendary for failing to do anything resembling police work.

Cortana was busy shutting down the vast majority of her programs only leaving the automated defense subroutines running at Alpha base. The others were that important at the moment anyway. Most were to deal with how to introduce 26th tech into the 20th century world without totally collapsing the economy. Just because the Covenant hadn't been found in this universe didn't mean that they weren't out there somewhere. She had decided that she would do everything in her power to ensure the survival of the human race from all foes, demonic or alien.

Xander quickly removed the MJOLNIR armor and packed it up into a set of specially designed luggage. After it was all secure he began loading of the equipment into the cargo section of the Hummer. He wanted to be on the road as soon as possible. Though it would still take damn near twenty hours to arrive in Seattle and a few hours after that to find the compound that Carolyn was being held in.

"You ready to go yet?" Xander yelled as he came back into the main room to grab a large ammo box for his weapons. It never hurt anyone to have too much ammunition, though he was bringing well over three thousand rounds. Hopefully he wouldn't need that much.

"I'm just starting to pack my clothes, but I can't decide. Do you think I should bring my summer wear or should I pack for winter?" Cortana replied. Sometimes she just loved to tease the hell out of him. He made it so easy sometimes. Cortana remembered his reaction to Jenny telling him about how she was transformed into an Arabian belly dancer for a night. He had turned so red that she thought for sure that he had ruptured a blood vessel in his face.

"Ya ya yuck it up smartass. You're time is coming!" Xander retorted as he grabbed the chip that contained Cortana and went back out to the garage. "Did you install that computer in the hummer like you promised last week?"

"Its installed and running perfectly. Just insert my chip into the center console like you were loading a CD. With the new upgrades that I put in I should be able to navigate to Seattle while you sleep." Cortana said as she began to take control of the Hummers controls. With the new tinted windows no one would be able to tell that no one was actually sitting in the drivers seat without coming extremely close to the vehicle.

Cortana pulled the vehicle out onto the road and began driving in the general direction of the highway. "Seattle here we come!"

"Uh Cortana we just need to make one stop before we hit the highway." Xander commented as he remembered something.

"It's too late. You should have gone before we left."

"Oh grow up. I don't need to take a piss. I just remembered that I have the head to the Judge in the trunk. We should find a crematorium so I can destroy it." Xander said.

Cortana's face appeared on a little LCD screen built into the dash. "And just why do you think that would destroy him. Those books that you scanned into my database are pretty specific that no weapon forged can harm him."

"Ya, but what about the forge itself?" He replied with a self-satisfied smirk on his face thinking that he had outwitted her.

"And the furnace for the crematorium was created how, by wishful thinking? It had to be built by something. Though I guess it is worth a shot. If it doesn't work I guess we can always bury the demon head at the bottom of a pit surrounded by concrete as a secondary plan." Cortana commented as she changed directions heading for the nearest funeral home that did cremations. With the amount of death in this town it wasn't a surprise for a lot of funeral homes to specialize in cremation to help keep the vampire population down.

As soon as they arrived at the funeral home Xander hopped out carrying the Judge's head. He quickly found the blast furnace that cremated the bodies of the dead. It seemed that no one was on duty tonight so he just chucked it right on in and turned the furnace on full blast. It took a few minutes for the furnace to get up to full power but once it did it made short work of the Judge's head. No more invincible demon and with that Xander went back out to the hummer, after switching off the furnace of course, to head for Seattle.

101010101010101010101010

Cadet Jennifer Hailey was day dreaming in class, remembering what happened to her a few weeks ago when she first met Major Samantha Carter who introduced her to a whole new universe.

A few weeks ago at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs Major Samantha Carter was giving a lecture on wormhole physics and the different relationships of the ten dimensions of hyperspace travel. Most of the students are bored out of their skulls by this information, a few are trying to covertly study the aerospace text books that they smuggled in inside their binders to try and buff up for the upcoming test next week.

Though not everyone was ignoring the lecture entirely a few dedicated and extremely intelligent cadets were copying down notes as fast as they could write them out, others were memorizing the equations thanks to them having damn near perfect memory recall. One cadet in particular, Jennifer Hailey, was doing both. Though she had already found a few flaws with Major Carter's theories.

Major Carter was just wrapping up her presentation when a young cadet asked a question about exactly how many dimensions she was referring to in her equations written on the board behind her. "Yes ten dimensions. I know that many of these concepts are a little bizarre and that many of you cadets would rather be somewhere else right now. Jump school, flight training believe me I know. I used to sit in those same seats wondering when the hell class would finally end. But on the other hand, the aerodynamics that are one day going to allow you to fly an F-22 started out as squiggles on a chalkboard just like this. These calculations are the key to opening up the entire universe; wormholes and hyperspace may seem like science fiction right now. But take my word for it, the future is a lot closer than you might think."

Professor Monroe stood from where he sat at his desk on the stage and walked over to the podium clapping lightly. "Thank you for that extremely interesting discussion on the future of astrophysics. Class there will be a paper due on this in two weeks, five thousand words on what you learned today. Class dismissed."

The cadets groaned as they began shuffling out. Most hadn't been paying that close attention to the lecture and now they had a massive paper due on it. Guess it was time to start sucking up to the brains in the class to try and figure out what to write.

Cadet Hailey stayed behind as her fellow classmates stampeded out the door. Something about those equations written on the board was troubling her. It took her a few moments to see it but it was pretty damn obvious, at least to her, once she found it.

"This is wrong." She said as she looked at the equations.

Professor Monroe looked up from where he was talking with Major Carter. "What's that cadet?" He said reproachfully.

"I'm sorry sir but the calculations are incorrect."

"I admire your enthusiasm but maybe you should wait till you graduate before you start criticizing the work of a leader in the field of astrophysics."

"Yes sir, of course. My apologizes ma'am." Cadet Hailey said as she tried to contain her temper at being talked down to by someone who couldn't even see a simple mistake staring him in the face. She then turned and walked out the door, telling herself that she was right and that they were wrong.

Major Carter just nodded her acceptance of the apology. She was too busy starring at the whiteboard trying to find the mistake that Cadet Hailey had said was there. Now that she looked at the board there was a mistake and it was starring her right in the face. How could she have missed something so simple? Carter looked over at her old professor.

"Who was that?"

"Jennifer Hailey. Very intelligent but difficult personality." He said as he began putting his files away in preparation going home for the day.

"Well she's right." He looked up at this. Major Carter pointed to a section of the complex equations. "These two variable's should be reversed."

"I didn't even notice."

"Neither did I." Carter just starred off into the direction that the young cadet had taken. She would have to do a little checking up on that one. Someone with that kind of mental prowess could be just what the Stargate program was looking for. Assuming of course that she passed all the required security checks and actually graduated from the Academy.

A little while later Carter was busy reminiscing with the Commandant of the Academy about her own journey through these hallowed halls. She discussed Jennifer Hailey with him for a few moments but couldn't really get a good picture of the cadet. From all reports that she had read so far, from the cadet's file, it seemed that cadet Hailey was on the verge of being expelled from the Academy.

Major Carter even talked with Hailey for a few moments but it was hard to get around that damnable superiority attitude that Hailey seemed to project from herself. It seemed that nothing she could say would get through to that girl. Hailey believed that the Air Force was just another dead end for her, since she couldn't automatically be the best at everything and that her peers didn't defer to her in all things.

After the incident with the training cadre Major Carter used a little bit of her influence to prevent Hailey from being tossed out into the street on her ass. Carter was hoping that this would be enough to get Hailey back on track so that she could steer the young girl in the direction of the gate program but even after this the young cadet was thinking of leaving the Academy on her own. Carter thought for a few moments and before she could talk herself out she acted.

Major Carter went down to the registrar's office to get a copy of cadet Hailey's class schedule. Quickly checking it over she say that it said that Hailey was currently in aerospace design class over the Randall building. She changed direction to head over to the building. Once she found the correct classroom she simply walked in disrupting the professor who was leading the class in a discussion about the differences in wing design over the past twenty years.

"Can I help you Major?" Professor Hynes asked, just a little annoyed at the disruption to his class. He liked things to proceed in a timely matter.

"This will only take a moment." She responded as she glanced around the classroom to find cadet Hailey sitting alone in one section trying to write out a new equation that could result in the creation of a true fusion power plant. "Cadet Hailey front and center."

Hailey jumped to her feet, grabbed her books, and quickly walked over to Major Carter. "Cadet Hailey reporting as order, ma'am."

"Cadet come with me. I'm taking you on an assignment." Carter said cryptically as the rest of the class watched in shock as the two women walked out of the room. Most were thinking that Hailey had stepped in it one time too many but some thought that Hailey was being put into a different class level since she was so intelligent. Neither side could even begin to imagine how wrong they were.

Hailey walked alongside Carter in silence as they walked out to the parking lot and got into Carter's car. A few times she tried to start a conversation.

"Um, ma'am. Where are we going?" Hailey asked after twenty minutes of silence.

"We're going to Cheyenne Mountain and after that its classified. You will not discuss anything you see on this little trip with anyone, ever. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Upon arriving at the entrance to the massive mountain complex both women were ordered to identify themselves and go through the numerous security checkpoints in order to gain access to the mountain stronghold. This was probably the most heavily defended location on the face of the Earth and that was reflected by the amount of security guarding it.

The two women took one of the elevators all the way down to sub-level fifteen where they had to undergo another security sweep before boarding a second elevator that would take them to sub-level twenty-seven. Hailey just tried to absorb as much as she could without looking like she was doing so. A few minutes later she along with Major Carter was escorted into a conference room with a large plate glass window, which strangely enough only showed a blast shield on the other side, where she was ordered to wait.

Major Carter went into General Hammond's office to discuss the matter with him. He was not pleased in the slightest that she had brought a cadet back to the base.

"Major do you mind telling me what that cadet is doing here. This is one of the most heavily guarded military installations on this Planet." He asked while glancing out to see said cadet avert her eyes from looking in his direction.

"Sir I know she's just a cadet but she is a perfect candidate for the SGC."

"Her file says otherwise." Hammond retorted indicating said file on his desk. It having been sent to him when security informed him that cadet Hailey was on her way down with Major Carter.

"Sir, if she can get just one glimpse of her possible future then she will graduate at the top of her class and become an officer worthy of serving under your command." Carter defended her choice with every fiber of her being. She was a little shocked herself at that but she felt that Hailey was a younger, and smarter though she was a little loathe to admit it, version of herself.

"Very well. You along with Cadet Hailey are to report to M4C-862 and rejoin SG-1 for the remainder of the mission there. I hope your right. Dismissed." Hammond ordered as he mentally crossed his fingers. SG-1 was possibly the best team to ever be created at the SGC though they certainly exceeded all the other teams in creating headaches for him, he just hoped this didn't come back to snap him in the ass.

Major Carter saluted and acknowledged her orders. Once that was done she left his office to collect Hailey and get her down to the supply room. Hailey would need a set of BDU's for the upcoming mission.

Hailey followed Carter through the tunnels of the base watching everything that she passed; she passed areas where heavy construction was taking place. Marines and engineers were digging out new tunnels and rooms with some sort of tunneling device that she had never seen before. Hailey would have loved to stop and examine it but Major Carter just kept on walking.

Once down in the supply room Hailey worked up the nerve to ask a question. "Ma'am, uh why are we drawing equipment for a mission. We're nearly a thousand feet underground. How could we be going anywhere?"

"I'll show you. Just get changed into some BDU's and carry this pack. Its not a combat mission so you don't need a sidearm. Give me a shout when your ready." Carter said as she quickly changed and grabbed her normal mission gear. Cadet Hailey nodded and began slowly changing. Her mind was going a mile a minute trying to figure out just what the hell was going on down here. The security systems that she could plainly see were numerous and state of the art, though that was expected in a place buried beneath NORAD. Once she had all of her gear on and strapped into place she went out into the corridor to find Major Carter. She was almost run over by a group of Marines walking down the corridor carrying heavy weapons and crates of supplies.

"Ready to go?" Carter asked.

"Um, ya I think so ma'am." Hailey responded as she watched the column of Marines continue. There had to be damn near a hundred of them, all dressed in full battle dress. Why would so many front line soldiers be assigned to a deep space radar telemetry station? For the life of her she couldn't figure it out. Carter fell in behind the soldiers.

"Well lets get going then. Follow me cadet." Hailey quickly fell in behind Carter as she walked through the tunnels. A klaxon began to sound further down the corridor, though since no one was running around it must have been a normal part of the operations of the base. The marines marched off into a branching corridor and Major Carter walked over to a blast door where a soldier was standing guard. The guard just stared at them as if daring her to become a threat.

"What your about to see is probably the best kept secret in the world." Carter said trying to impress just how important this place was to Hailey. Jennifer responded in a slightly nervous voice.

"You're making me nervous."

"Good, cause from here on out everything that you thought you knew about the universe is about to change." Carter said. Then nodded towards the marine. The marine swiped a pass card through a special slot beside the door, which opened the blast door so the two women could walk in.

Hailey followed behind Carter and saw for the first time the massive metal ring that dominated the center of the room. It was close to 20 feet in diameter with a rotating inner track. She could feel its presence in her bones; it spoke of ancient power and times long forgotten. This was something magical and truly wondrous.

"What is it?" She asked

"It's your future. It's called a Stargate." Major Carter said in a soft voice. It was obvious to all that were watching that Hailey was nearly overwhelmed by the sheer presence of the Gate.

A voice came over the intercom. "Chevron Seven Locked!"

With that a massive out rushing of what appeared at first glance to be bluish water came extremely close to them before falling back into the interior of the gate. The gate looked like a horizontal puddle of water with small bubbles forming on the surface with an extremely bright white light being focused through from the other side. It was beautiful.

Major Carter stepped up onto the ramp leading to it; Hailey followed her but at a slower pace. "Your looking at the event horizon of a wormhole connecting this gate to an identical gate 42,000 light years away. That's where were going."

Hailey was trying to understand this but it was just so overwhelming to even begin to contemplate but she asked a good question. "How are we getting there?"

"That's the easy part." With that Major Carter pushed Hailey into the gate then stepped through herself.

The ride through the gate was like being on the most powerful and exciting roller coaster ride in the history of mankind. Though every single scientist that you talked to would insist rather emphatically that you could not possibly see anything while in the gate wormhole every single person who had traveled it stated that they saw stars shooting by as the flew down the tunnel generated by the gates.

On the other side of the galaxy Hailey was attempting to catch her breath after coming out of the gate. It was an unbelievable rush going through the gate. Carter stepped out of the gate behind her and she looked up in time to watch the wormhole dissipate.

Before Hailey got to ask any questions on just what the hell happened she was stunned to see a vision of a massive gas giant dominating one whole section of the sky. Also visible were several other planetoids, probably moons, orbiting the gas giant. She was really no longer on Earth. Hailey turned back to ask a few questions when she saw a man in US military fatigues come around a bend in the path through the forest in front of her. Her keen eyes rapidly sought out rank insignia, a full colonel, and she quickly came to attention.

"Hey Carter, thought I come be your guide back to camp" He said.

"Thank you sir. How are you doing today?"

"Good, though my knees are starting to bother me a bit again. You know?" He started.

Carter interrupted him before he got going on one of his rants. "Sir, I'd like you to meet Cadet Hailey. Cadet, Colonel O'Neill."

"Cadet welcome to 862. How was your trip?"

"It was, uh.. It was a trip sir."

"It always is Cadet." O'Neill smirked as he returned her salute. The three of them made their way down to the base that was built into a small natural clearing. It offered a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside. It became clear soon that this moon held a life form unlike anything that they had ever encountered before. A creature composed entirely of energy, made it look a little bit like a over bright firefly, albeit one that could phase through solid matter.

Though this energy bug turned out to be hostile quite quickly though most people were divided on the reasons why they became hostile. Some like Hailey believed that their behavior was linked to the gravitational fields produced by the gas giant that they were orbiting, and the others thought it was a reaction to one of their own being imprisoned.

After O'Neill made his run to open the gate and drive the creatures back to allow the scientists to escape, Hailey stood on the steps leading back up to the gate. She thought to herself that this was but one of many possible worlds that the gate connected to, and just one of many thousands of adventures that she would have. Have to start doing better at the Academy if she wanted to get back here she thought as Major Carter came up to stand beside her.

Hailey turned to her smiling as she asked. "Is always this exciting?"

"No sometimes it gets really exciting."

"Will I ever get to find out which one of us was right?"

"If you stick around long enough, besides there will always be other planets."

"It's a moon." Hailey pointed out.

"Ok your right about that." Carter laughed as she walked through the wormhole with Hailey back to Earth.

"Attention on deck!" A voice shattered Hailey's daydream and quickly brought her back to reality where the rest of her class was snapping to attention. General Kerrigan and a few other high-ranking officers were marching down towards the podium at the front of the classroom. Hailey was immensely shocked to see that she recognized one of them. Colonel Jack O'Neill was there in full dress blues beside General Kerrigan.

Kerrigan stood behind the podium. "At ease. Colonel O'Neill has some orders to deliver here so remain standing until he's finished." Kerrigan turned to O'Neill and with a wave of his arm that encompassed the entire class said "There all yours Colonel."

O'Neill merely said. "Thank you General." He reached into a briefcase that he carried and extracted a small slim jewelry box along with an official looking letter bearing the seal of the Air Force. O'Neill cleared his throat before speaking again. "From the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, in recognition of her brilliance and courage in a hostile combat zone, I hereby authorize the immediate promotion of Cadet Jennifer Hailey to the rank of Lieutenant. Cadet please step forward."

To say that the entire room was stunned would be an understatement. The room was shocked, when the hell was she ever in a combat zone was what they were thinking. Though from the look of surprise on Hailey's face she was nearly as stunned as they were. She quickly walked over to the stage to stand near Colonel O'Neill.

"The United States Air Force has recognized that you have fulfilled tasks and duties well beyond the responsibility of cadet. It is with great pleasure that I bestow upon you the responsibilities, respect and the rank of lieutenant." While Colonel O'Neill was speaking General Kerrigan was removing her cadet rank pins and replacing them with the insignia of a full lieutenant.

"Thank you sir!" Hailey damn neared beamed as she saluted the two officers.

"Lieutenant, you are no longer a cadet at the Academy. This is in lieu of a graduation ceremony. At the end of today you are to have all belongings packed and ready to ship out. Here is a copy of your official orders." O'Neill handed her a sealed envelope as he spoke and saluted her one last time. "See you on base Lieutenant Hailey."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

Mars, an ancient world shrouded in mystery. Since time immemorial mankind has wondered about the red world. Did she ever have life, did alien life forms live and die there much like we do on Earth. The time was quickly approaching to the day when those questions and more would be answered but until that day is upon us, Mars and her secrets lie in an eternal slumber waiting for the fulfillment of prophecy.

The galaxy of Ida, home galaxy to the Asgard, was burning with the fires of war. Thousands of worlds fell to the replicator advance; cities, planets, peoples and civilizations were destroyed for the raw materials to eternally perpetuate the replicator species. Millions of sentient beings died everyday, Asgard warships attempted to save as many as they could with their advanced transporter technology but even they could not stop the advancing swarm.

Othala homeworld of the Asgard and site of the Asgard High Council. The room was mostly empty save for a mere half dozen Asgard sitting at the main table within the meeting hall. These beings were discussing the fate of the Asgard race, with the war progressing badly for them on all fronts and the gradually escalating cloning problem of their race things were not going well for them. The only good thing, at least in Thor's mind was the appearance of the Tau'ri on the galactic stage of life.

Thor's mind was brought back to the discussion at hand when Tyr, one of his warship commanders, jumped in with. "We should begin considering evacuating a portion of our civilian and military population to an area outside of Ida. This will insure the continuation of our species in the event that we fail in our war."

"And send them where?" asked Freyr. It was not an unreasonable question. With the replicators having captured and adapted quickly to Asgard technology they had the ability to go anywhere within three galactic radius' within minutes. Eventually they would find the Asgard no matter where they hid.

"Send them to the homeworld of the Humans. Their world has the space to accommodate many thousands of the Asgard. And it is also the abandoned homeworld of the Ancients. Perhaps there are some forgotten defenses that can assist us in the defense of Ida." Tyr rebutted the argument with.

Thor who had remained silent to this point spoke. "The Humans of Earth are not ready for full contact with the Asgard. If we were to appear in large numbers there would be much panic and destruction on their world. We should send a small delegation to Earth to discuss a possible treaty for space on one of the uninhabited worlds of their solar system."

Freyr looked a little nervous as he activated a massive holographic representation of the Human solar system. It showed the orbits of all worlds, moons, and even the asteroid belt with the human names for each displayed with their translations in Asgard above them. "There is one problem with that Commander Thor. The Ancients entrusted us with a prophecy before they left. It stated that one of the 'Fifth' race would eventually bring about the return of the Ancients and that he would reside on the warriors world. We have for millennia searched the galaxy looking for worlds of warriors but with your recent contact with Earth I believe a portion of the prophecy has come true."

Thor looked extremely interested as he leaned forward slightly in his throne like chair. He manipulated the controls of his chair to alter the hologram to show a closer image of the interior of the solar system. "Yes I know of the human Jack O'Neill using the Stargate to come to Othala and his being subsequently named as a member of the 'Fifth' race but I do not understand why we cannot establish a colony in their home system."

Freyr zoomed the hologram into a close-up of the 4th planet of the solar system. "This world is called Mars by the humans. As many of you do not know Mars was a god in ancient human culture. He was supposed to be the God of War, hence Mars coming to be known amongst many of our scholars as the Warriors World. If that is the correct interpretation of the prophecy then the Ancients will have insured that no one will interfere with that world until the prophecy has been fulfilled. Her defenses though millennia old by this point will still be active and very much deadly even to our ships."

"That is unfortunate. The limited data we have on Mars indicates that this world would be the most easily altered to fit with our biological requirements. Though the world Venus can also be altered to meet those same standards, though with a slightly longer delay. It could be ready to receive a small stable population of Asgard within a year compared to the six months that Mars would take."

"Yes it is unfortunate but we must abide by the wishes of the Ancients. This prophecy was entrusted to us and we shall not interfere with it in anyway. Though your idea does have merit. We shall send you to discuss a possible treaty with the humans of Earth for the planet Venus as they call it." Freyr addressed Thor as he ended the holographic program and allowed the lights of the High Council Hall to resume their normal level.

"Agreed. The Humans will want something in return for allowing us to use the world within their territory. What shall we offer them in exchange?" Freyr mused the question over for a few minutes. The Humans of Earth were technologically backward compared to them but they were advancing quite rapidly. Though of course they were currently involved in a war against the Goa'uld System Lords so they would probably want weapons technology which was one of the few things the Asgard were loathe to hand out. "We cannot offer weapons technology but perhaps they would agree to artificial gravity and hyperspace technology that is within their industrial capacity to produce. That should aid them greatly in their struggle against the Goa'uld."

"Agreed. Now to the other pressing matter, the replicators continue to advance and we are so far unable to do more than slow them down. I propose the shutdown of the Stargate Network with the galaxy of Ida save for a few Stargates on the older worlds. This should enable us to prevent the replicators from using the Stargates to move from world to world with relative ease." Thor said as he activated another hologram showing the current territory overrun by the replicators. The portion of the galaxy overrun by the replicators was shown in red, it was close to 57 percent of the whole Ida galaxy; many thousands of primitive species and even some of the more advanced allies of the Asgard had perished in this war.

"The war does not go well for us does it my old friend." Asked Freyr as he gazed upon the hologram with a measure of fear. The Asgard had for thousands of years been one of the most advanced and powerful races in known space. And now they were on the verge of extinction by a creature that was eating their race and the materials their civilization was based on, all because of their error of reactivating one of those creatures to study it. It was most discomforting to know that you stood on the twilight of your race.

"If we can get the new ship class online before the replicators reach Othala then we stand a chance to defeat them. If not then we will not succeed. It is nearly as simple as that. Hopefully with the prototype we will be able to slow them down until more come online and we can finally end this war." Thor stated as he watched the hologram shift again to show another few dozen systems that had just fallen. The hologram was directly tied into the hyperspace sensor arrays throughout Asgard space. Those sensors had just witnessed the death knell of yet another species and a few more Asgard worlds.

"And we are running out of time." "Then it is time for you to pay a visit to Earth. It would be in our best interest to not waste much time in gaining that treaty. Good luck my friend." Freyr said as he called an end to the meeting of the High Council.

Thor nodded and activated his beacon to transport himself back up to his flagship the Beliskner. It would take approximately fifteen minutes to arrive at Earth from Othala. Thor could have made the trip faster but decided that he shouldn't push the engines past their tolerances. The Beliskner might have to return to Ida unexpectedly and it would not do for her to be unable to do so because of an engine malfunction brought upon by overstressing the engines.

101010101010101010

Over at the SGC things were proceeding as normal, meaning that once again the world had a crisis that the Goa'uld had caused and it was once again SG-1's turn to haul Earth's ass out of the fire. The Tok'ra had just sent Jacob Carter, host to Selmak, to Earth to gain their assistance in tracking down a wayward Goa'uld System Lord known as Setesh who had gone missing a few millennia ago.

"So Jacob if this snakehead is here he could be hiding in any one of 6 and a half billion people. We haven't got a snowballs chance in hell of finding him." Colonel O'Neill said with his usual sarcastic flair. Though inwardly in was trying to think of reasonable ways to begin searching for the snake. They couldn't allow a Goa'uld to remain free on Earth; the opportunities for disaster were unthinkable.

"Jack I know it's a long shot but its all we got." Jacob responded not really wanting to have come on this mission. But Selmak had insisted and she had more sway with the Tok'ra council than he did and it also gave him a chance to see Sam again, even if only for a short time while the mission lasted.

Daniel who was jotting down notes said. "Well he is a Goa'uld so that gives us a pretty good starting point on how to look for him."

Jack looked at him like he was nuts as he asked. "Oh really? Then how do we find him?"

Teal'c responded. "As a Goa'uld he will never lose his thirst for power."

"And they have a pretty common theme for acquiring said power." Daniel said.

"False religion." Responded Teal'c

"Which narrows the proverbial haystack considerably. At least let me do a search to see if I come up with anything, we don't really have anything to lose at this point." This last part was said at General Hammond who nodded his assent after thinking it over for a few seconds.

General Hammond was just standing to dismiss everyone from the meeting when a low pitched hum and white light surrounded Colonel O'Neill before he vanished. "Code 9, seal the base!"

Everyone else in the room stood in shock. The last time that they had seen anything remotely close to that was when the Asgard had visited Earth to begin the negotiations for their Entry into the Protected Planets Treaty. Hopefully if it was them returning then it wouldn't be that bad this time around.

Onboard the Beliskner Colonel O'Neill once again took in the view of his homeworld after being transported to the ship without his permission, again! "Thor you there? We gotta have a little talk about you just deciding to beam me away whenever you feel like it. Thor!"

A flash of white light and Thor appeared at the opposite end of the room seated in his throne like chair. "Greetings O'Neill. It is good to see you once again."

"Hey Thor. What's the situation this time? Some Goa'uld coming after us calling your bluff or something?" Jack asked, trying to look clam but inside he was worried that it was just that. Some snakehead was calling the Asgard's bluff and Thor was here to give him a heads up before the snake got to Earth.

"I have been sent on behalf of the Asgard High Council to negotiate with you leaders for permission to construct a permanent installation on the planet you call Venus." Thor stated as he observed the human, trying to predict what his reaction would be. Most of the humans that he had interacted with over the centuries had just blubbered or begged for mercy not understanding him in the slightest. This one however was different. He showed no fear of the Asgard, as a matter of fact he seemed to regard them as he would any other being as an equal. It was most refreshing to meet one like him.

"Ok buddy … but the bill ain't gonna be cheap." Jack said as he tried to keep standing upright. The Asgard wanted to build and live in a base in the solar system. That pretty much guaranteed Earth's safety from damn near anything. No one would be dumb enough to violate the treaty with the Asgard in the same damn system.

"Uh Thor you do realize that its not up to me right?"

"Yes O'Neill that is why I have come. Please inform your superiors that I wish to discuss this with them. Though it would be preferred if you hurry, my time here is short. The war with the replicators still progress's back in the Asgard home galaxy and I shall need to return there soon." Once again a low pitched hum and white light surrounded O'Neill before he was transported back to the surface. Jack had time for one last shouted. "Talk to ya later buddy!" before he vanished.

It had been barely five minutes since O'Neill had been transported off the planet but that was more than enough time for Cheyenne Mountain to be sealed and locked down ready for damn near anything. The amount of troops that were stationed in the facility had slowly been increasing over the past few days and now nearly an entire regiment of troops was on hand, most to help with the continuing expansion but also for base security.

General Hammond looked up when a bright flash of light appeared near where Colonel O'Neill had vanished. Hopefully it was just the Asgard taking him for a small chat and now was returning him but he couldn't take the chance. "Security!" He bellowed causing half a dozen Special Forces soldiers to charge into the briefing room searching for possible threats to their commanding officer.

It did in fact turn out to be Colonel O'Neill being sent back. He had one of his goofy grins on his face that just promised to cause a massive headache for him he just knew it. "Welcome back Colonel. What did the Asgard want to talk to you about this time?"

The goofy grin didn't fade in the slightest but the quick glance around the room made General Hammond give the next order. Something about his subordinates face told him that this was big and those without clearance shouldn't hear it just yet. "Everyone dismissed!"

The security guards quickly vacated the room. Once everyone was gone save for the two senior officers both of them walked into Hammonds office. "Alright Colonel, out with it."

"Its good news sir! The Asgard want to open negotiations for permission to build a base or colony on Venus!" O'Neill practically gushed in his hurry to rely the news. This would be one of the turning points in human history. Jack could feel that in his very soul, with the Asgard sitting next door then Earth's security was damn near iron clad at least where the Goa'uld were concerned. Though any other threats out there were still valid but this could buy Earth the time she needed to prepare for them.

"Did they say what they would offer in exchange for Venus. I mean they want the rights to a whole planet and I'm not sure we even have the authority to sign away a planet." Hammond asked as he went over it in his mind. When the Stargate program finally went public there could be some major backlashes when the general population found out that the United States had signed away an entire planet.

"Thor didn't say but its probably going to be something big, they want an entire world so it could be some tech or ships. Though I really doubt its ships cause he said they were all needed in their war with the replicators in their home galaxy." Jack responded.

"I'll have to contact the president. He's the only one who can make a deal like this. Did you tell Thor that it would probably be awhile before he gets an answer on this?" Hammond asked.

"Ya, Thor said that he would wait for us to discuss it but he wants us to hurry, he might be recalled at anytime so we should try and hurry this along a bit." Hammond nodded and picked up the phone. Immediately on the other side of the country a presidential aide picked up the phone. "This is General Hammond, get me the President."

Colonel O'Neill left the office at this point. He had other things to attend to and Hammond was going to be busy for the next little bit trying to convince the President of what the Asgard wanted and what they could possibly get in return. Now with some luck the cafeteria probably still had some Jell-O left, damn well better in his mind.

He quickly changed directions after remembering that Daniel was going to be doing some research into seeing if he could find that Setesh character. If he could find him then the SGC would have to figure out away of making him quietly disappear. O'Neill walked into Daniel's office to find him fast at work on his computer, Teal'c was just standing stoically near him. Just as he was about to ask if Danny had had any luck Major Carter and Jacob walked into the room. Might as well let them ask it he thought.

"So any luck Daniel?" Jacob asked. He looked a little tense but he seemed to be keeping whatever was bothering him under control.

Daniel looked up. "Good news. I did a time line search on the archaeology website. It seems that throughout history there has been a cult of Setesh in one form or another. Now after the rebellion in ancient Egypt and when Ra fled Earth a new god appeared near Athens. Similar backstory and factious domains and even animal representations. I thought I lost him there but in a few centuries a cult of Seth arose in the 1800's. They were constantly hunted and despised by the Christians of the era, now here's the really disturbing part. All of Seth's followers were found dead, having slit their own throats but Seth's body was never found."

Major Carter was looking a little green around the gills at the tales of the trail of death that this Goa'uld had left in his wake throughout history. "Did you lose the trail there?"

"On a whim I decided to run a search through the government classified net to see if the CIA had anything on him for whatever reason. And looked what popped up on the ATF page. A cult who's leader is a man named Seth. The ATF is investigating them cause they've become so heavily armed and fortified."

Jacob looked shocked. "Daniel do you mean that you actually might have found him?" He was stunned, inwardly he had assumed that this mission had just been an excuse on Selmak's part to get him back to Earth to get him to reconcile with his son Mark. Now he had a real mission, to find out why Seth was still alive and what he was doing. Though of course the SGC would want to kill him and take whatever technology they could find.

"How do you know that its really him?"

"Deprogrammed followers of Seth say that he has magical powers and has killed several members in front of them. Also reports indicate that Seth has the ability to make his own eyes glow." That last part kind of sealed the question on whether or not it was a Goa'uld.

Jack looked at the picture of the leader of the cult of Seth on Daniel's computer for a few seconds longer before picking up a nearby phone. "Get me General Hammond."

"Yes Jack?" came the reply a few seconds later. "Daniel found him sir, he's holed up in a town a few miles north of Seattle. Permission to take SG-1 and grab him?" Jack asked, already thinking of the logistics of what would be needed and maybe a possible cover story for why they were taking this guy.

"Granted, take along SG two and three with you for backup. Try and keep this low key and avoid alerting the public in anyway. See if you can contact Thor. The President is conferring with his cabinet on the possible treaty dealing with Venus but it will be at least 24 hours before a decision is made. Also we would like time to bring in a diplomatic specialist to negotiate the treaty instead of leaving it open to misinterpretation." Hammond said before he hung up the phone. He was still waiting for the President to finish up his midday briefing before he got a chance to talk to him again to see if they had come to a decision on what possible requests they would make of the Asgard in exchange for the use of Venus.

Jack turned to his team, and Jacob. "We're good to go. Load up all gear and meet me at the elevator in twenty minutes. I have to see if I can get Thor's attention or something to tell him what's going on."

"Sir, do you still have the Asgard communications stone that he gave you during the Protected Planets Treaty summit? You could use that to contact him if it still works." Major Carter suggested.

"Good idea Carter." O'Neill left Daniels office and half walked jogged down to his office to get the stone. He had been using it as a paperweight refusing to allow the research and development team over at area 51 to touch it. Jack had told them they could have it when hell froze over or when Thor said they could have it, whichever came first. Picking up the stone he spoke into it hoping it was still functional. "Thor, buddy you there?"

A flash of light later Thor was standing in his office. "Yes O'Neill I am here. Have you discussed my proposal with your superiors?"

"Ya that's the thing I wanted to talk to you about. The President needs more time to go over all the angles and possible problems with the treaty. We really appreciate the offer but we can't make a decision that big this quickly. We were wondering if you could stick around for a few days or so till we make up our minds?" Jack asked, or pleaded as he personally thought of it in his mind. He couldn't believe the sheer stupidity that was coming out of D.C. The Asgard were willing to make a treaty with Earth and the goddamn blood sucking politicians wanted to think about it.

"My time here is short O'Neill. I do not know when I will be able to return. I shall leave you with this." A smaller flash of light and when it left in his hand another stone that looked very much like the first communication stone though the markings on the side were different. "This will enable you to contact me on the Beliskner wherever I am. Only use it when you truly have need of me. I shall return when you call for me."

With that Thor disappeared in another flash of light. More than likely his ship was already on its way back to his home galaxy but there was no way of knowing whether or not thanks to the advanced cloaking abilities that made Asgard ships invisible to Earth based sensor arrays.

Jack looked at the two stones that he held in his hands, a matched set of paperweights until he had to call Thor. Cool he thought. Jack put the stones back onto his desk and carefully locked the door behind him as he went to grab the commanders of the other teams assigned to go with him on the hunt to find Seth. After a quick briefing session with them, in reality just five minutes of telling them the basics, and telling them to get their asses in gear he headed for the elevator to find all three teams lugging weapons cases waiting for him.

After a quick drive over to the airfield adjacent to Cheyenne Mountain they took off on a C-130 Hercules troop transport heading for Seattle. It would take about ten hours to get there so O'Neill and his people settled in for a nap if they could manage it or to study the notes that Daniel and Jacob had provided on Seth. This was a lousy way to spend Christmas Eve but when you were assigned to defend the planet you did what you had to no matter how it affected your personal life. Though it still sucked big time.

10101010101010

Over in Boston Faith and Linda were sitting around the fireplace, Faith was just staring at the large Christmas tree sitting in the corner. She was trying extremely hard to keep from crying. It had been nearly three years since she had last celebrated Christmas and that had been with her mom. Though her mom was a hooker she still loved her very much, Gwen Lehane, Faith's mother, had done the best that she could over the years to raise her daughter right. She didn't always do the best or in the normal way but she at least tried to do the right thing.

Linda took a long sip of her hot cocoa and went back to sitting in the comfortable silence that filled the room. It had been a tough two months since she had met Faith but most things had turned out for the better. She had kept every promise that she made to Faith, which went a long way towards forging the bond that now existed between them. She knew that Christmas would be a tough day for Faith to whether it being so close to her birthday and after that close to the day of her mother's death.

"Its getting pretty close to midnight. I don't know if you ever celebrated this tradition but I was wondering if you wanted to open a gift now before you went to bed?" Linda asked. She as a child had done that with her own parents both deceased now thanks to random demon attacks but she hoped to revive it with Faith. Faith was brought out of her memories of her mother by Linda's question.

"Uh sure, I mean I never did that with mom but I guess it can't hurt." She said as she wiped her eyes trying to avoid looking like she was doing that.

Linda ignored Faith as she wiped her eyes; it wouldn't hurt to let the child have her illusions of being a tough street kid. Linda knew better that there was a sweet young woman underneath that hard exterior who was just jumping for joy to be finally let out even for such short times. Linda walked over to the tree and picked up a brightly wrapped package out from underneath the tree.

"Here you can open this one. We'll save the rest for tomorrow." Faith looked down at the present, the first one that she had received in nearly three years. It almost brought her to tears again, but she managed to keep herself in check. She quickly began shredding the wrapping paper to reveal a small wooden box. Opening the box she found what looked like a set of bracelets. "There beautiful."

Linda smiled at the look on Faith's face as she opened her gift. "There also magical. These are an ancient set of bracers known as 'Bracers of Binding' They have a few spells enchanting them that so only their proper wearer can use them. Also they will protect you from certain magical spells, they will absorb all magic that is based in fire and let you release it with the proper spell phrase at whatever target you wish."

"Cool! These babies should come in handy. I'll be able to char-boil any vamp that gets too close with these things." Faith exclaimed as she carefully handled them. Though she was still looking them over just tracing the engravings that seemed to be etched into them. They seemed to just sing with unbridled power.

It took a few minutes to realize that she should probably give Linda one of the gifts that she had picked up for her. Ever since Faith had started living her Linda had been giving her a small allowance so she could buy the things that she wanted, which she had used to buy a few small gifts for Linda.

Linda was surprised when Faith put the bracers back into the box and went over to the tree. But her shock was only increased when the dark slayer brought a small box over to her. Biting her lip Faith looked down at her feet as she handed over her gift to Linda. "Uh I saw this in a store and I thought you might like it."

Linda slowly peeled the wrapping paper off, though not the best wrapping job she have ever seen it had obviously been done with care so she took her time and removed the paper to see a book sized box. Opening it up she saw what looked like an old Celtic cross on a simple gold chain. It was beautiful. "Faith its exquisite, I love it. Thank you very much, help me put it on?"

Faith picked up the chain and latched it around Linda's neck. "Uh it also opens up like a locket. I didn't know if you wanted to put any pictures in or anything so I left it open for you to decide."

"Well we'll just have to go get some pictures taken of the two of us to put into it won't we." Linda said with a smile. Faith smiled in return and settled into to sit beside her on the couch. Linda just wrapped an arm around her adopted daughter, though Faith didn't know it at this point but she was hopeful that in time she could tell Faith and that she would accept it, to just watch the fire until it went out. Linda just sent a silent pray up to let all the years to come be this good to Faith, she deserved it after the years of pain she had had.

10101010101010

On the highway the hummer sped through the night as its lone human passenger slept in the backseat. Cortana controlled the vehicle letting Xander get some much-needed rest. She was still perusing the files that she had stolen from INGEN. Everything that she had read so far just created more questions to just how the hell INGEN had cloned all those species of dinosaurs.

With modern or even 26th century technology you could not clone or splice the genetic code of an animal that had been dead for 65 million years. The main sequence gaps in the genetic code that would be created after millions of years of genetic degradation would create a mutated creature that would be unable to survive in the drastically different environment of Earth. Splicing the DNA from a vastly different species to fill in the gaps only created more problems and human technology had not progressed far enough to do that yet. So where and how did INGEN find the technology to pull this off? She was determined to figure that out.

101010101010

Back in Sunnydale Giles continued to translate the prophecy that was coming to plague every waking moment. The seers that worked for the council told him that it was important to the future of mankind and that future evens were becoming more and more clouded to them. At the rate that the veils were closing it could only mean that all human life on Earth would be wiped out or destroyed in some manner and that this prophecy was the key, but it was so damn confounding.

The only part that he had managed to translate didn't make any sense no mater how he looked at it. He glanced down at the paper one last time before giving up and going to bed. Hopefully in the morning well rested and rejuvenated he would have better success with it.

10101010

The Prophecy.

"Immersed in Shadows, Yet Righteous as the Knights of Old"

"Shaped for loss, He will choose to become a Protector"

"The Hand of Chaos will mark him as a Soldier"

"The Warriors of Legend will walk this world once more"

"He will walk upon War's Honored Land and make it his refuge and home."

"Where Liberty was born,A Girl will answer the Call"

"Guided for the Women of many Arts, She will become a Scourge for that plagues that prey upon Mankind"

"Following the Trail of the Fallen God, she will find the Protector, and discover the other half of her Blood."


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Notes: I meant for this chapter to be longer but I thought that I should probably post this and keep writing the rest into chapter 9. Also I have to give credit where credit is due, thanks to my friend Holyknight who has helped me by giving me ideas and telling me when I go off the deepend in my writing. Not to mention that he is the one who has written the whole Prophecy part for this story. Keep up the reviews, without them I have no way of knowing if this story is good or not. Any ideas are welcome, please no flames.

Now on with the story!

Chapter 8.

Xander slept for a good eight hours before waking up. Sleeping in the back seat of a hummer wasn't the most luxurious or comfortable place to take a nap but it did in a pinch and also let him get some rest before the upcoming mission. Some idiot thinking he was a god had a cult following him. How the hell could people who were in college, they had to have some brains to get, believe in that crap and follow him.

Ever since Waco had happened and what a disaster that was, Xander knew that most cult followings were heavily armed and fortified. Not to mention willing to die at the drop of a hat for their cause. He would have to figure out some way of entering the compound and get Carolyn out without causing a big ruckus. After she was out then he could worry about deprogramming and maybe later figure out something to do about the God wannabe.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Cortana dryly commented as she drove the hummer through the busy traffic on the highway. It was surprisingly busy for Christmas morning for so many people to be on the road. Though that could be explained away as friends and family took to the road to meet up with loved ones to celebrate the holiday with or even to those who were unfortunate enough to have to work over the holidays.

"What time is it?" Xander managed to say while yawning. He glanced out the window to observe the scenery as they flew down the highway towards Seattle. Hopefully by the time they got there he would have a better idea of how to begin his mission to extract Carolyn McNally from this idiotic cult.

"Its noon. You slept for nearly eight hours. ETA in Seattle is two hours." Cortana replied as she began accessing communications satellites. She had decided that know was the time to begin researching this cult that they were after. To organize a good extraction they would need detailed maps of the surrounding territory and design schematics of the compound in question.

"Merry Christmas Cortana."

Cortana was shocked for a few moments before recovering. No one had ever wished her a merry Christmas before today, though to be fair the only humans that she had any meaningful contact with were the Master Chief and Dr. Halsey neither of who had celebrated this holiday. "Merry Christmas Xander."

Xander glanced back out the window; his first glance had just indicated that they were traveling pretty fast, this glance told him that they were literally zooming down the road. "Uh Cortana just how fast are we going?"

"Approximately 215 miles per hour." Cortana calmly replied as she applied more power to traction controls to keep the hummer on the road.

"215 MPH! Why the hell are you driving so fast? Damn we're gonna get pulled over for sure." Xander moaned not really thinking it all the way through.

"The chances of any police officer having the skills, and vehicle with sufficient horsepower to overtake us with only human reflexes are infinitesimal. At our speeds we'll be long gone before he even has a chance to recognize that we were even there. Now sit back and let me drive." Cortana smugly replied. To think a human could catch her, how ludicrous.

"Ya well if we do get pulled over, how bout I let you explain away the military grade ordinance in the trunk." Xander replied in turn. After thinking about it for a few seconds he really did have to agree on the fact that no cop would ever catch them at these speeds so they were safe. Though he had to argue a little just for appearances sake.

"Ya ya. I'm accessing the government's classified web to see if this cult has popped up on their radar yet. So far it's a pretty standard cult group compared to the others. The only thing that I can find that is weird is the fact that even the government spies are puzzled by the fact that this Seth guy can make his own eyes glow." Cortana said as she perused the rest of the government file on the group. It also included a complete blueprint of the mansion with the surrounding landscape.

"Glowing eyes? Is that confirmed by anyone outside of the cult group? Cause if it is then that means that either this guy knows a little about magic or we're dealing with a demon that can appear human for long periods of time."

"Its confirmed by at least a half dozen independent sources. Mostly media but it was enough to get the attention of the government agencies. I've noticed and flagged a half dozen attempts by high-level agencies in the past hour that've downloaded or viewed material from this area of the site. I believe that someone is about to attempt to break this cult up." Cortana informed him.

"Great and with their track record of breaking up cults I doubt they'll do any better this time around. We need to figure out a way of getting Carolyn out of there without drawing any attention down on us. Any ideas?" Xander asked while he reached into the cargo compartment and pulled out a M6D semi-automatic handgun to strip it down and do some field maintenance on it. Wouldn't do for your weapons to fail you on a critical moment of a mission cause you didn't clean them.

"A night insertion would allow you to use the stealth capacities of the MJOLNIR armor to get up to the main compound without being spotted. Against 20th century detection equipment you would appear to be practically invisible though if someone spots you with his or her own eyes you will be noticed. Though I don't know how your going to get her out of there without sounding an alarm."

"How about if I give them a diversion or something else to focus their attention on. If I cut the power or set off a few low level explosions on the opposite side of the compound that could draw a few people away while I make my break with Carolyn." Xander mused as he continued the field stripping the handgun.

Cortana brought up the map on the computer screen built into the dashboard. A series of schematics flashed by as she weighed the possibilities and came to a conclusion. "The best area for you to lay charges would be along the northern fence line. There is a small shed twenty meters inside the compound that seems to control the electrical lines and sewage. If you plant charges there you are bound to draw attention and that would give you your opening though it is impossible to say for how long."

"Alright then that's what we'll do. Now I just need to lay my hands on some military grade explosive's to get the right effect without destroying too much." Xander commented as he reassembled the handgun and reached behind himself to grab another one to strip and maintain.

"Look in the cargo compartment again. I loaded a few items of my own a few days ago that I thought might come in handy."

Xander leaned over and saw in a small unassuming box what looked suspiciously like modeling clay. "Uh Cortana is that what I think it is?"

"C12 high grade military explosives. That should be sufficient to cause a distraction large enough to get you in and out."

"Cortana that would not only destroy the shed but probably take out everything within 20 feet of it. I want a distraction not a crater."

"Then use a smaller amount of explosive. If you want a large scale explosion then you use more this is not like sci-fi where you have variable level weaponry, this was designed and built to be an extremely deadly explosive that could punch through damn near any type of armor."

"Ya ya, fine so I'll use a small amount. We have to wait for nightfall and then we'll make our move. ETA to the cult compound?"

"Approximately 2 hours to Seattle and half an hour to the compounds outer perimeter. Nightfall is in seven hours. We shall arrive in plenty of time to begin observations of the compound to get a better look at it."

After this the two warriors fell into a comfortable silence as each prepared in their own way for the upcoming battle. They silently reviewed tactics and strategies that could be useful to extract someone from a fortified position with the most probable chance of survival and mostly they did this to pass the time.

1010101010101010

Linda rolled over in bed pulling her pillow up over her head in an attempt to drown out the incessant beeping of her alarm clock. By all the gods in heaven and hell that was the worst invention of mankind she thought. Finally loosing the battle of wits to the evil device she got up and slapped the off switch.

Linda walked over to the master bath to take a shower and get ready for the day. Today was Christmas and hopefully it would go well enough that Faith would have a good day and build some happy memories to replace the ones of hardship and despair that she had faced over the past few years.

After getting dressed and ready for the chaos of gift opening to come Linda walked down towards Faith's room. As she was almost there she suddenly remembered the necklace that Faith had gotten her as a gift, she quickly went back to her room and put it on. Once again she walked down to Faith's room. Raised her hand and began knocking on the door hoping to wake the dark slayer up.

"Faith its nearly 10 o'clock. Time to get up."

"Go away I'm sleeping." Came the mumbled reply.

"C'mon Faith you can't sleep the entire day away. Still more presents to open."

Faith's reply started out the same as her last but quickly cut off once the knowledge of more presents to come sunk into her sleep addled brain. "Give me a few minutes to get a shower and I'll be right down." With that she was off like a rocket bouncing around her room grabbing things that she needed to start the day right, new clothes to wear and shampoo and junk for her shower.

Linda smirked to herself as she heard Faith racing around her room. Thinking to herself to be that young again and have that level of energy in the morning would be wondrous. Walking downstairs Linda went to the kitchen to prepare a large breakfast for her and the dark slayer. With the amount of food that Faith could put away in one sitting it had forced her to go to the grocery store almost three times a week to stock up on Faith's favorite foods.

Just as she was about to turn on the stove to cook up some eggs she saw sitting by her purse a small black crystal that had not been there last night. Almost instantly she recognized it as a spell communications crystal that could be magically inspelled to hold a message for a specific person. The council used these almost exclusively when they needed to send important information without the possibility of it being intercepted by mundane methods.

Picking up the crystal Linda spoke. "The Council is Eternal." The same code phrase was placed within every crystal but the crystals were keyed to the specific recipient to insure that no outsider got their hands on the council's messages. 'Bunch of pompous asses'

A small image of one of the top Watchers appeared above the crystal. Quentin Travers was expected to become the head of the Tribunal within the next few years but until then he was head of the Field Watchers and as such was her boss. "Field Watcher Pryce. We have recently uncovered new evidence that the demonic entity responsible for the death of Slayer Kendra is now residing in a small town just north of Seattle. You and your charge, Slayer Lehane, will go and dispatch this creature back to the demon dimension from which it spawned. Since the demon lives so far away and there is now a chance of interference by American federal agencies we have decided to allow you to use magical means of travel to teleport to a Council safe house. Information to help you will be at the safe house when you arrive. This mission takes priority over all others; after it is completed you will travel with your Slayer to the hellmouth where you shall stay to defend it. Good day Field Watcher Pryce."

With that the image of Travers vanished in a small puff of smoke. The crystal's black color faded to a smoky gray which indicated that the crystal had been inspelled to send a message back that it had been accessed, so it looks like she couldn't just say that she ever got the damn thing.

"Well it can wait till after breakfast at least. Now where did I leave that frying pan." Linda started cooking up some eggs and toast for Faith, who just loved to have eggs in the morning. As she was putting the eggs onto a plate and just finishing up with the toast a fresh faced Faith bounded into the kitchen with her limitless energy.

"Morning Linda, what's happening today?" Faith asked as she plunked herself down at the table.

"Well after breakfast we'll open the rest of the gifts and then we'll go from there. How does that sound?"

"That's cool." Faith replied before settling back into her eating. Breakfast was always an extremely important meal to her. Ever since she could remember her and her mother would get up and eat a good meal together in the morning. It didn't matter what kind of night or day she had had, Gwen had always made time in the morning for her baby girl.

After breakfast the two of them found themselves back in the living room sitting beside the large Christmas tree that Linda had bought. Underneath were a few presents for each of them from the other, though Faith didn't know it yet but Linda's grandparents had sent a few gifts also to her. Linda picked up the first gift and handed it over to Faith. "Here why don't you start with this one."

"Ok." Faith looked at the label. "To Faith Love Linda." She then ripped the wrapping paper off to see half a dozen new CD's that she had been wanting. "Thanks! I've been wanting these ones."

The dark slayer picked up a clumsily wrapped package and passed it over to Linda. "This is for you."

"Thank you Faith." Linda read the label and for a moment her heart skipped a beat when she saw that it said Love Faith. Hopefully it meant that Faith was coming to accept her as a mother figure and maybe, just maybe someday down the road she would accept her as a step-mother. Unwrapping the present she saw that it was a set of three books. "The deeds of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. I've heard of her, she's supposed to be an extremely good author. Thank you Faith I'll enjoy reading these."

The gift giving went on for a good twenty minutes, mostly gift certificates and even a few gag gifts from one to the other since though they had been living together for awhile they were still feeling their way into the others life.

Linda still couldn't believe Faith had gotten her Tantric Sex Oil, it had too have been one of the funniest gifts that she had received in her life. "Ok Faith only one was last gift to go. My grandmother sent this over, she thought that you might like it but sometimes she's a little weird in what she gives so don't think to heavily into it." Linda said as she passed over the rather large parcel.

Faith looked a little nervous after that. Most people's parents or grandparents had always looked down on her, she had been the kid that mom's told their kids to avoid and not to play with. Now here was Linda's own grandmother sending her a gift for Christmas.

On the label it said To Faith Merry Christmas Love Great-Grammy. It seemed weird to her, she had never known her own grandmother or great-grandmother, both of them having died before she was born, but it felt nice that someone out there was willing to take the title and call her her great-granddaughter. She carefully unwrapped the present to find herself holding a large white box, opening it up and she was shocked to see what was inside it waiting for her.

"Well what did my grandmother get you Faith?" Linda asked as she waited patiently. Her grandmother could be a little eccentric at times, but she remembered a few nights ago when she had picked up the present from the post office and she had seen that tag. Hopefully it would help Faith realize that she really was wanted and welcome here.

"Um it's a leather coat and some boots. There beautiful!" Faith exclaimed as she pulled them out of the box. The boots were knee high black leather boots with a few exotic symbols pressed into the leather. The coat was a long black leather duster that would probably come down to about her ankles and had the same matching symbols as the boots.

"Did she get the right sizes?" Linda asked as she ran her hands over the leather of the boots. They were high quality and she could tell from looking at the symbols that they weren't just decoration, they had the feeling of magic and power.

Faith pulled the boots on over her pants leg; they fit like they were made just for her. The coat fell to just above her ankles giving her a dangerous look. It was awesome, the dangerous look that Faith had been shooting for dissolved quickly with the insanely large smile on her face.

Linda grabbed her camera to take a few shots, as Faith posed making herself look both dangerous and like a kid at the same time. "It looks very good on you Faith. Now I know you want to listen to your CD's but we got a mission to take care of then first."

Faith quickly settled down upon hearing about a mission, though she didn't take the coat and boots off. "So whats the mission, what demon thing do I gotta slay today?"

"The Slayer before you tried to kill this creature but she was sadly killed during the fight. Every few decades this thing sets up shop in some small town pretending to be a god and getting a group of followers ready to die for him. The Council has found him in a town just north of Seattle. He goes by the name of Seth. Now the reason that Kendra, the slayer before you, failed is that we didn't know that he had started using magic to defend himself and he also wears some sort of body armor."

"So I go for a head shot, he'll die just like any other demon." Faith exclaimed already picturing herself avenging her sister slayer.

"Faith guns probably won't work if he's using magic to shield himself. We'll have to get close and then try and take him out hand to hand." Linda said while sending a small prayer heavenward as she always did when she gave Faith a mission. One of these days that prayer wouldn't be answered and Faith wouldn't return but until then she was damn well going to do everything in her power to make sure that was along time off.

"Oh, well we got a couple of days to come up with something. Its going to take us that long to get there." Faith replied as she ran her fingers lightly up the side of the leather boots. They felt so soft and hard at the same time.

"Actually we're to take him out tonight. We're going to teleport from here to one of the Council's safehouses up in Seattle and drive the rest of the way. So we should go pack up our weapons and anything else you want to take with you. After this mission is over we'll be heading for Sunnydale to guard the Hellmouth." Linda explained.

"Oh, guess I should get packing." With that Faith left the room to go pack her things, though Linda noticed that she kept the coat and boots on. With a tiny smile she whispered a thanks to her eccentric grandmother who always seemed to know what to do.

An hour later the two of them were packed and ready to go. Faith having lugged damn near everything that she owned and crammed it into four very large suitcases, Linda was much more frugal in her packing though she knew that in a few days a couple of her Council buddies would come by to pack up the rest of her stuff to send to a house in Sunnydale.

Linda led Faith into the basement where the rune symbols that allowed mass teleportation were imbedded into the concrete walls. They glowed with power that had slowly been harnessed over the years drawn in from the magic that emanated from the earth itself.

"Stand inside the circle Faith and close your eyes. Teleporting is very unsettling the first time." Linda said as she helped put all the luggage in the circle with them. She then chanted the activation phrase in ancient Latin. The runes glowed brighter and with a swirl of red and black light they were taken from Boston to Seattle. It was a gut wrenching experience.

"Oh god I think I'm gonna be sick." Faith moaned as she tried desperately to keep her breakfast down. Linda silently agreed with that statement, no matter how many times she used that spell it always felt like you were being turned inside out.

As Faith got herself back to normal Linda was already moving to make sure the protection spells that were placed on the house were still intact and functioning. After checking that she grabbed a small manila folder with information on the compound of the cult that Seth was leading. "Ok we got our intell. I'll let you read it over while we drive up to Johnstown, that's the town that he's holed up in now. It seems that he's holding some sort of rally in town; we should try and see if we can join in on the rally. That would probably be our best way of getting into the compound without getting caught." Linda suggested.

Faith just nodded, not trusting herself to not puke if she opened her mouth just yet. Picking up the luggage she followed Linda up to the garage. Putting everything in the back of the SUV she hopped into the vehicle and Linda drove out of the garage on their way to Johnstown.

10101010101010101010

At a nearby Air Force base the C-130 that the SGC's teams had been riding in was just pulling up to a warehouse. All three teams disembarked, walking down the ramp to find the vehicles they had requested were already there and fully loaded with the equipment that they needed.

Colonel O'Neill roared over the sounds of the Hercules's propellers. "Alright the target is located in a town called Johnstown north of here, SG-1 in the first jeep, SG-2 in the second and SG-3 your in the third. This is a low profile operation; avoid any civilian involvement if possible. This snakehead may or may not have some high-tech toys lying around but we can't be sure of that so be on guard. We will wait till nightfall before making our way into his compound. Further orders to follow when were on site. Let's move out campers."

With that O'Neill turned and jumped into the drivers seat of the first large SUV jeep. The rest of the soldiers following suite into the respective vehicles, once everyone was loaded up they quickly put the small convoy into gear and drove off the base heading for the highway.

Major Carter grabbed her laptop, accessing the governments classified net on the Seth cult looking for any information that they might have missed or anything that might just recently been added. She was trying to keep busy and not think about the changes that she had seen come over Colonel O'Neill on this mission.

He had always acted the part of the goof, downplaying his intelligence, and generally made a pain in the ass of himself to any Goa'uld that they met on other worlds. She knew that he had to be smarter that what he let on, cause you couldn't rise to the rank of Colonel without a few degree's but sometimes it was hard to tell where the act began and where it ended.

The Prophecy continued.

"The Young Squire, doubtful of her Fate was chosen for the Valkyrie"  
"She will defer to the Protector for wisdom of the War's Arts."  
"Her true call will be from the Arts of the Old Ones. "  
"She will become the Overseer of the Last Forge of War

The Childs of the Hardworking Stars will give great boons for refuge upon Love's Domain"  
"Beware of the Fool, why he will harm all, unless the Holder of Thunder gives  
to the Childs of Malkuth the most great and terrible gift"

"A Spirit not born of Nature will guard the Heir of two Old Bloodlines"  
"She will show the Razor of the Southern Lands's Man to the Childs of the Hardworking Stars"  
"Once the Protector finds the Called One, the Thunder Holder will take them to the Crypt of the Old Ones"


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Notes: Since somene asked Faith was born on January 6th 1982 and that would make her fifteen right now in this chapter but also very close to her sixteenth birthday. Xander is turning 18 very soon too. Though I'm still working on his birthday date. Also this takes place in early season three of SG-1. I know more of you want Jenny action I swear she'll have a bigger role to play soon trust me. As always reviews suggestions, complaints flames not accepted are welcome and all ideas will be taken seriously. Now on with the story.

Chapter 9

Linda drove at the speed limit as she got off the highway and into Johnstown toward the park where the demon Seth was planning on holding a recruitment rally. Linda looked over at Faith who had somehow fallen asleep during the quick trip. "Faith wake up were almost there. Now remember we have to act like were willing to join and listen to the crap that his cult spews."

"Ya ya I'll try to keep from breaking his neck out in the open and I won't tell them their all a bunch of fuckwits for believing this shit." Faith muttered in reply.

Parking the car near the park the two of them walked into the quaint little park to see the rally in full swing. About two dozen cult members in flowing white robes were handing out pamphlets to anyone who passed by. Most of those pamphlets were quickly thrown in the trash but a few were kept and read.

"Here the cry of the Celestial Lord of Creation. He bids that you stand ready for the war is coming. Join us and enjoy the bliss of everlasting life or shall you perish when the fires of creation cleanse the planes?" One of the cultists's shouted as she stood on stage.

Linda and Faith walked up to the stage and were almost immediately handed pamphlets describing the everlasting joy that they would achieve if they joined the group. 'ugh what a load of bullshit' Faith thought as she forced a smile onto her face as she tried to look like she was interested in this garbage instead of wanting to kill their leader and go home.

A young cultist that couldn't have been more than 24 looked them over quickly and came up to them. "Hi I'm Carolyn McNally. Are you here to learn about the blessing of the Celestial Lord?" She asked in a perky voice that grated on Faith's nerves.

Linda knowing that Faith would probably blow their cover answered for them. "Yes we are, can we meet with him to talk about it?"

"Well he's not here at this rally. Most of the times we just bring prospective recruits back with us afterward for him to meet and talk with. If you want you can stick around and meet him when we're finished for the day." Carolyn responded in that same perky cheerleader type voice that reminded Faith so much of the snooty kids that she had hated when she still went to school.

"Ok we'll stick around for that then. We'll just be over there reading this pamphlet until you are ready to head on back." Linda said trying to keep in character.

"Ok that's just super!" Carolyn said before walking off to harass another passerby with her litany of cultist bullshit.

"So how long do you think we've got to wait before we can get close to this guy?" Faith asked as she followed Linda over to a nearby bench.

"Probably not more than an hour or two before they head back. Hopefully we can manage to get him alone so we can get this over with and get the hell out of there as soon as possible." Linda muttered as she pretended to read the Children of Seth pamphlet. About an hour later Carolyn came back over to them.

"We're getting ready to leave. The permit that we got allowing us to gather here for our rally runs out in a few minutes. So are you still interested in coming back with us?" She asked as the other cultists were packing up their tables and picking up their trash.

"Yes we're still interested, should we go with you or can we follow in our own vehicle?" Linda asked as she stood up, stretching to get rid of all the kinks that developed after sitting for so long.

"Uh follow in your car if you want. It'll save you the trouble of coming back for it later." Carolyn responded. "I'll ride with you if that's ok so you know the way?"

"Alright." The small group walked off towards the SUV and headed back out towards the compound. Carolyn gave them the directions to it as they drove. Upon arriving and being directed to park in back near the garage the trio went into the large mansion. Faith had seen the guards who were lurking about trying to remain hidden but doing a very piss poor job of it. Though that was to be expected, they weren't soldiers they were some parent's nutjob children playing around at being soldiers.

Walking through the mansion she couldn't really see any security devices such as cameras or infrared sensors but more than likely there was something hidden to keep people from running. They came upon what she instantly thought of as the throne room. Sitting on a fancy high backed chair was the cult leader himself, Seth. On either side of him were two fantasy style statues carved out what appeared to be gold with ruby red eyes.

Seth sat in his throne as the new recruits came forward. This time there were only two. These insufferable humans were poisoning the population against there true god. They would pay dearly when he took control of this measly world. Ahh such beauty, such fire in her eyes, she would make the perfect host for my new queen.

As they stood on the carpet before him he triggered a hidden control in the arm of his chair that activated the nish'ta which slowly spread throughout the room. This drug was most ingenious, though with several glaring defects, it allowed him to have total control over his subjects with no chance of them failing to do as they were told. The only real drawback to it was that it was easily countered by an electrical shock that would nullify the compound and it would forever be useless on that individual.

"Greetings my children. Do you wish to join my loyal following of souls who shall be cherished for all time when I bring about the rapture of the celestial war upon the heathens? Rejoice for you shall know an eternity of joy and love as loyal subjects in the coming new world order." Seth exclaimed as he saw the first signs of the nish'ta taking ahold of his newest subjects. Faith felt weird, for some reason that she couldn't place she felt like she would follow what this nutjob was preaching. Something about it was just setting her slayer senses off big time but before she could even do anything she was out like a light.

The young one seemed to resist the nish'ta; she would most definitely be a perfect choice for a host for his queen Seth thought as he gazed upon the unconscious duo. "Take them to their chambers and prepare some robes for them. Clothe the younger one in the ceremonial robes of a soldier. She shall fight for the right to become my Consort."

The other cultists rushed forward eager to please his every command. As they carefully dragged Faith & Linda away Seth returned to his throne. With that one as his Queen he would once again be able to breed armies of Jaffa who would live and die by his command.

Faith woke suddenly, something was wrong but her mind felt like it was stuck in quicksand. Every time she tried to think clearly about why they had come here a mental fog blocked it out, her slayer senses were going berserk trying to fight off the nish'ta but it was taking nearly all of her slayer power to do so.

Carolyn came into her field of view suddenly. "Good you're awake. Do you feel up to serving your god Seth?" She asked in that same perky voice that a few short hours ago would have set Faith on edge but now just seemed right to her. It was so confusing for the younger girl.

"Of course. I am always ready to serve my god. How may I do so today?" Faith asked in reply.

"You are to be given the most wondrous privilege of fighting to be his consort on this plane. You shall fight another who was also chosen; whoever is the victor will be granted his boon and the right to sit at his side for all eternity!" Carolyn said, though there was a little sadness in her eyes for she had not been chosen for this great honor.

"Great! Who and where do I fight?" Faith asked basking in the glow that came from within that her God had chosen her to be his consort out of all the others

"Come with me and I shall lead you to your battle." Carolyn said extending an arm to help Faith back to her feet. Faith gratefully accepted the help since she was feeling a little weak at the moment, as she was getting to her feet Faith noticed that she was no longer wearing the clothes that she had on when she first got there.

"Where are my old clothes?" The dark slayer asked, just something about the memory of those clothes struck something deep inside of her as if they were very important to her. Faith could feel the bracers that were still on her wrists but everything else was gone. She was now dressed in armor that Xena would have worn; though instead of being all black it was gold and very revealing in places.

"Those were taken away and put in storage. We all shed the skins of the old world when we join with our one true god Seth and so shall you. He shall give you his blessing when you appear before him. Come we must hurry, we should not be late." Carolyn said while pulling on Faith's arm to get her to hurry up.

The two of them quickly ran through the hallways and down a flight of stairs into a large buried auditorium that resembled an ancient Egyptian throne room. Nearly every single cultist was here, standing around the throne in a semi-circle all of them cheering as the other warrior chosen warmed up in the center of the room.

Faith observed her opponent carefully as she walked to the center of the room. The other warrior was taller, but heavier built so that should work against her giving Faith the advantage in speed. As Faith was looking her opponent over movement near the throne caught her eye, it was Linda sitting at the base of the throne looking up in supplication at their lord and master the great god Seth.

Seth stood from his throne and the room went silent. He spoke in a forceful voice that conveyed power and glory. "Tonight you shall be witness to the greatness that is Seth. You shall see one of your own be elevated to the rank of consort and take her place by my side as your Queen."

Faith felt the rush of adrenaline flowing through her veins as she prepared to fight for the right to be at her god's side for all time. The dark slayer knew that she would have to fight hard and quick to ensure that she was the victorious one here today. Her opponent a heavyset blonde stared at her before picking up a wicked looking short sword. The blade was curved and serrated in a way that told its victim that it would enjoy tasting her blood.

Faith looked over at the table full of weapons and found a plain short sword, she grabbed that it looked like it was functional and wouldn't be too heavy for her. Facing each other they awaited the command of their god to fight to the death in his honor.

101010

Parked nearly a mile away from the compound on an old abandoned country road was a futuristic looking hummer whose lone human occupant was preparing for war. Xander looked out of the hummer's window at the mansion that he would be infiltrating soon. He couldn't see many surveillance devices but that didn't mean there weren't any. With a place this big and only a small following this Seth guy would have to rely on technological surveillance items to insure that no one snuck onto or off the property.

"So what do you think Cortana?" Xander asked as he began to suit up into his MJOLNIR armor. Attaching weapons to the hardpoints on the outside portions, fixing his assault rifle to the specialized clamps on the backpack portion of his armor and gearing up for extended combat operations with plenty of ammo in various pouches.

"Ground penetrating radar indicates that there are a number of tunnels and rooms built beneath the surface of the compound. In particular I can detect nearly sixty-five individual human sized thermal spots that are inside the compounds gates. The vast majority are centralized in one underground chamber directly underneath the mansion. Use extreme caution when approaching that area." Cortana said as she reviewed the most recent data pertaining to the upcoming assault. She began shutting down non-essential portions of herself and storing all projects so she could bring her full potential to the forefront.

"You ready to go?"

"Hold one second" Cortana suddenly said as new information scrolled past her eyes in cyberspace. "I've found nearly a hundred other human thermal spots on the other side of the compound. From radio intercepts I've identified them as federal agents of the ATF agency. They are preparing to surround the compound and demand Seth's unconditional surrender."

"Well that could make things a little more complicated than I would like. Is there any info on when they plan on carrying this little mission of theirs out?" Xander asked as he modified his plan. With that many ATF agents nearby a large explosion would give them a reason for getting onto the property making his extraction that much more difficult.

"True. We'll have to enter in stealth and no large scale combat. If we do encounter anyone we'll have to disable them without raising too much of a ruckus. This increases the likelihood of ourdetection by a significant margin." Cortana advised, knowing that no matter what she suggested that Xander would go through with the mission. He reminded her a lot of John at times. Especially during those moments when by all rational reasoning stating that he should have died by now, but he had somehow received John's luck as well since he came out of every single mission without a scratch.

"Agreed, well time to go." Xander said as he reached down and removed the chip that contained Cortana's essence between transfers. When he inserted the chip back into his armor he could immediately feel the difference as the familiar presence that was Cortana once again took up residence within his mind.

Xander stepped out of the hummer and stealthily made his way closer to the fence surrounding the property. The forest surrounding the property went still, deadly still as the denizens of the woods recognized that a hunter was on the move stalking his prey.

1010

After arriving in town Colonel O'Neill drove directly to the sheriff's office. He wanted to get some up to date intelligence on their target before he attempted to go after him. Also it was always good to check with the locals, you never know when you might have to come back here again and it wouldn't pay to step on someone's toes when you might need them to help you in the future.

"Hey Jack, why are we stopping here?" Daniel asked as he woke up. For some reason Daniel had picked up the habit of sleeping whenever he got the chance, a habit that most soldiers loved to have.

"We're stopping here to get some of the local's readings on Seth's compound. If they know anything important then it could come in handy beside they'll remember down the line that I was willing to work with them and that could come in handy sometime down the road." Jack replied as he parked the large SUV at the curb of the sheriff's office.

Jack got out of the SUV and indicated for the following teams to remain where they were and headed into the station followed by his team. It was the perfect resemblance to an old town sheriff's office even had the swinging gate that lead deeper into the station. There were a half dozen desks, all empty save for the one manned by the receptionist.

Glancing down at the name plate on the desk Jack spoke to her. "Hi Amy, I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill United States Air Force. I was wondering if the sheriff was in?"

Amy gazed up at the handsome military officer that was standing in front of her. She knew deep down that she had a weakness for men in uniform, that's why she joined the sheriff's department as soon as she legally could but this guy was just perfect. Fluttering her eyelashes at him she said coyly. "Yes he is. I'll just go get him for you ok?" Standing up before he had a chance to respond she walked away putting a little more swing into her hips than usual.

Carter couldn't believe that little tramp, acting like that in front of her Jack. Sam blushed heavily, thanking her lucky stars that she was at the back of the group and that no one saw her do that. Where did thoughts like that ever get in her head, her Jack indeed. He was her commanding officer and the regulations were explicitly clear that she could never be with him as long as she was under his command.

Amy lead a man in his mid forties back out into the area where Mr handsome was waiting in her eyes. Jim the sheriff knew damn well what men in uniform did to Amy so he was quick to interpose himself between her and the military officers present. "Howdy folks. What can I do for you today?"

"Well I was wondering if you could give any information you might have on a cult that's up in this area. Its led by a guy name Seth Fargough." Jack said in his best commanding officers voice. The change was almost immediate on the sheriff, who nearly came to attention at the sound of Jack's voice.

"Well how bout I take you out to his place, you can ride along with me and I'll fill you in on the way. How's that?" Jim asked as he grabbed his coat and keys. He knew Colonel O'Neill would agree to it, it would let him get the inside scoop before his subordinates did. "Ok. Carter you drive the SUV and get everyone to follow behind you. I don't want to lose anytime because someone gets lost" Jack said as he followed Jim out to his jeep.

1010

Inside the mansion the fight was going strong. Faith was clearly the stronger of the two but it seemed that her opponent at some point had learned how to use a sword quite well. No matter what trick she tried, no matter how fast she moved she was continuously blocked from landing a finishing strike to end the fight.

Seth looked on amused as his pets fought for the right to become host to his soon to be Queen Isis. It was a stroke of good fortune that he had managed to purchase the remains from that sunken ship that had carried his ancient foes. To have in his possession two containers that held his fellow System Lords Isis and Osiris, both of whom he had personally banished before being hunted by Ra for attempting to overthrow him.

His new pet was the one he favored, what was her name again he thought heavily trying to remember. Ahh yes Faith such a wondrous name, for she had faith in him as her god. She seemed to be so much stronger than Ally who was slowly tiring. As he watched Faith seemed to abandon all pretense of using a style and just began to hammer the blows home, with one mighty blow Ally's sword shattered under the relentless assault by Faith.

Seth stood before Faith could deliver the killing blow. "Stop. She is beaten. You have clearly proven yourself as the victor and won the right to become my consort. I shall spare her life for she is loyal and shall serve us well." Seth said, for it seemed like a good idea. With the current lack of those who were willing to bow and kneel before their true god it would not do to waste such a valuable resource.

Walking over to where Faith stood he stretched out his hand for her to take. For an instant he thought he saw her eyes flicker but it passed as she quickly grasped his hand with such a glowing smile on her face.

Faith could feel different, something was changing. For some reason she was finding it hard to believe in her god Seth. It was so confusing, she could see his power, see the bliss he offered her but still she doubted.

Sitting at his feet where he pointed Seth retook his throne. "My children, we shall rejoice for today we now have a Queen befitting of a God of my power. Rejoice my children, rejoice!"

The cultists began to chant. "Seth is life. Seth is happiness. Seth is life. Seth is happiness."

1010

Outside the compound Xander grew ever closer to the mansion. Approaching the fence he saw that it was nearly ten feet high but that there was tree cover extending a good ways inside compound, glancing around he noticed that there was no one in the area so he chanced it. Flexing his legs Xander leaped into the air easily clearing the fence, landing with a barely audible thump. He once again scanned the area making sure that no one noticed his arrival.

"Cortana bring up that map." Xander ordered as he cautiously moved forward, staying in the darkest shadows of the forest. The moon was full tonight and the sky clear which complicated his mission abit but not enough to hamper him too much.

The map flashed into existence on the interior of his face shield narrowing down until it showed where he was and then expanded out showing important features that he needed to be aware of. A blue line jumped into existence tracing the most favorable route from his location to the main building.

"Take this route, it should offer you the best terrain camouflage as you approach the main building. I'll update as we go incase we run into anything that we didn't plan on." Cortana said as she continued to weigh the variables in her head and plan a few steps down the road about what technologies to bring into this world without starting a war over them.

Carefully moving from shadow to shadow Xander made his way slowly to the mansion. It took him nearly twenty minutes but he managed to get there without being spotted by any of the roving patrols that were walking the compounds grounds. Sliding along the wall Xander came to a door that led inside, he listened for a few moments straining his enhanced hearing and sensors to make sure that no one was on the other side. Once he was sure it was clear he opened the door and made his way into the house.

"Can you tell where they were all grouped?" Xander asked as he moved through the halls trying to make no sound and looking into each room as he passed by.

"From the resolution that I got off the satellite they seemed to be underground and closer to the other side of the building, turn around and go the other way if you want to find that room. But remember we can't kill them, this is an extraction mission not a deep strike one." Cortana reminded him, knowing that he already knew all that information but sometimes it seemed like he did better when someone was there to talk to him or just to listen to his ideas. Eventually that habit would come back to bite him in the ass but for now she didn't see the harm in indulging him.

1010

The small convoy of vehicles came to a stop outside the front gates of Seth's compound. Getting out of the cars the group quickly went to work getting there gear ready. Jack talked with the sheriff for a few more minutes before the sheriff got a call over his radio telling him about a fight going on down at the pub. The sheriff quickly left saying that he had to take care of that.

Jack was just about to call over the SG team leaders when a man appeared nearly beside him out of thin air, as a matter of fact Jack hadn't noticed him get out of a car parked in a small side road a few feet away.

"Jesus, where did you come from?" Jack said trying to get his racing heart under control. It galled him that some civilian managed to sneak up on him like that, if Ferretti had seen that he would have laughed and ribbed him about it for days.

"Uh over there." He said while pointing to the car. "Hi, I'm Joseph McNally. I've been out here for a few weeks trying to catch a glimpse of my girl. That bastard has got her locked up in there and the sheriff won't do a damn thing about it. You de-programmers or something?" He asked noticing all the military grade gear they were suiting up in.

"Something like that. You said you've been out here for a few weeks, any tips on where to enter?" Jack asked, not really trusting the man but decided to humor him for a few moments. If the man's information did check out then it would give them just that much more to go on when they did breach the walls.

Mr. McNally went back to his car and grabbed a folder. Jack could see what looked like another man sleeping in the car. "Who's that?" He said pointing at the other figure.

"Oh that's Jason; his boy is in there too. We take turns sleeping that way one of us is always watching in case we can catch a peek at our kids. Uh here's everything that we saw and what the guys we hired to get our kids out saw." Joseph said as he handed the folder over to Jack.

Before Jack could even say thanks nearly two dozen plainclothes officers poured out of the woods surrounding them. "ATF, put your weapons down now!"

He couldn't believe it. What were the chances that the ATF would interfere now with an operation against a Goa'uld? If these agents stormed the compound and saw the snake then national security was screwed there would be no way in hell of keeping this story under wraps.

"Oh for crying out loud. Who's in charge here?" Jack yelled at the agents as they began policing up the weapons from his team.

One of the older agents walked over, he was about mid-forties pretty heavily built seemed like a solid guy from the way he held himself. "That would be me, Special Agent in Charge James Hamnor. Just who the hell are you?"

"Colonel Jack O'Neill United States Air Force." Jack answered liking the fact that Hamnor's eyes widened just a bit upon hearing his rank. "Now you want to tell me why you're confiscating my team's weapons and equipment?"

"We're here on an operation, your presence is not authorized and you're carrying automatic weapons. Until I get orders from higher up I'm placing you into protective custody till I find out what to do with you." He said. The tone in which he said it just grated on Jack's nerves just a little cause he could tell that Hamnor was liking that he could lord his authority over Jack just a little too much for his taste.

"Oh I don't think so. I outrank you and this is now a military operation. Either return my men's weapons and equipment now or you can explain it to the Joint Chiefs of Staff when they personally call you to have a little chat about how you play with the military." Colonel O'Neill said while glaring heavily at Hamnor.

"You're out of your jurisdiction on this one Colonel. This is a civilian matter and you don't have clearance."

"Fine I got a secure phone in the SUV, bring it out here and we'll see which one of us has a higher connection me or you?"

Hamnor looked a little pale at this but he nodded at one of his men who retrieved said secure phone, after checking to make sure it was actually a government issue one he turned it over to Colonel O'Neill. "Fine but this counts as your one phone call."

O'Neill dialed the number that led to General Hammond's office. After a few minutes of talking to him, relying the situation Hammond assured Jack that he would get the President on the phone as soon as humanly possible. Which turned out to be about five minutes. Picking up the phone Jack held it out to Hamnor. "I think it's for you."

Taking the phone from Colonel O'Neill his ear was immediately assaulted as soon as he said his name. "Agent Hamnor."

"This is the President of the United States of America, agent Hamnor for the remainder of your operation you are to place yourself under Colonel O'Neill's command. This is not a request it is an order. Do you understand me?"

"Yes Mr. President. I understand you perfectly but to be frank sir, the jurisdictional rules are clear this is a civilian matter are you sure you want to do this?" Hamnor respectfully replied trying to keep his tone light for one false step on his part would result in the flushing of his career down the toilet.

"Yes I am aware of the normal rules but for right now they are suspended and you will defer to Colonel O'Neill that is an order and it is final." With that the President hung up.

Jack stood there watching as the ATF agent got the chewing out of his life from the man who ultimately was his boss. "Ready to return that gear now Special Agent in Charge?"

Hamnor looked a little shook up but he quickly ordered the gear returned. Once everyone had their weapons and gear back Jack beckoned Daniel to come up closer. "Daniel do you think this Seth guy would build tunnels into this compound like all the other ones?" Jack referred to the other ones meaning the other System Lords; Teal'c on the ride up had told them that frequently System Lords had escape tunnels built into their facilities.

"He more than likely would. If he follows the same pattern that he used to in Ancient Egypt then the tunnels would be buried deep but would have an entrance around here somewhere." Daniel replied after thinking about it for a few seconds.

"Hmm that's a lot of ground to cover." Jack thought on it for a second before getting an evil grin on his face. "Agent Hamnor, I want you to have your men sweep the area surrounding the compound. Look for anything that resembles a tunnel entrance or cave or anything that looks suspicious."

"Yes sir." Hamnor responded then quickly began assigning men to command the various teams. "What should we do when we find one sir?" "

You're to do nothing. You will sit on the exits to those tunnels and await further instructions, do I make myself clear?" Jack ordered leaving no room for negotiation. Hamnor nodded and trotted off to join one of the search teams.

Colonel O'Neill called his teams over. "Ok men, this is a simple retrieval mission, we are not I repeat not to harm any of the civilians that are already inside. According to Jacob they're probably all been hit with some snakehead wonder drug that makes the do what he says. Use a zat gun blast to knock them out then move on."

Everyone nodded at this, killing civilians who were under the influence of an alien drug was not what they were trained to do. They would fight and bring everyone inside back out alive.

"Alright campers lets get going." With that all three teams headed into the woods nearest the gate, heading for an area that would let them get entry into the compound without being spotted.

1010

Xander moved quietly through the halls of the mansion, every room that he passed so far was empty indicating that everyone was either in the large chamber downstairs or out on patrol. This was getting more difficult by the minute he thought. If Carolyn was downstairs then he would have to wait until the group broke up before he could even attempt to grab her.

Glancing out around the corner at the end of the hall he saw a set of stairs leading down. "Cortana how close are we to that meeting room?" Xander asked as he carefully eased himself down the stairs keeping an eye out for anyone who might suddenly come around the bend.

"You're within twenty feet. Probability assessment that even with changes to the structural design of the building you will not emerge in that room. There will be at least one more before it, but proceed with caution." Cortana replied

"Copy that." Xander cautiously moved down the stairs coming out into another hallway that was completely empty. "Which way?"

"Go right and be careful. The room at the end of the hall is the one where they've all congregated." Moving down the hall with a little more speed then he should have Xander went from door to door, opening each and clearing the rooms before he moved on. When he got to the last room before the one he wanted he went inside. "We'll wait here till the meeting breaks up and try and follow her as she leaves."

"Good idea. Just one flaw, what happens if whoever leaves first stops in here?" Cortana asked pointing out the major flaw in his plan.

"Well we'll just have to hope that they don't."

Cortana muttered something so low that it was barely audible but it sounded like 'Idiot' to his enhanced ears. Xander chose to let that go but he was damn sure to get revenge on her sometime down the line if it was the last thing he did.

1010

Faith sat at the foot of the throne of her god becoming more and more confused as she pondered how this creature could in fact be a god. What she didn't know was that this was her slayer healing powers slowly removing the controlling influences of the nish'ta. One second she was confused the next she was back to herself as her full powers finally returned.

The dark slayer was quick enough on the uptake to continue worshipping at the demons feet so as to not alert him that she was now planning his death and not how to serve him. Faith glanced around the room and now that she knew what to look for she could see the glassy eye star from each cultist that told her that they were all drugged, even Linda.

Thinking quickly Faith came up with a way of clearing the room. Before she could talk herself out of it she spoke to Seth directly. "My lord I wonder if I might speak with you in private for a moment. I wish to discuss how I might serve you better." Faith said while flaunting her feminine charms.

Seth leered at her, looking not at her face but directly at her exposed cleavage. Just like any other man on Earth he fell for it. "Leave us." He ordered. Within a minute everyone was out of the room heading back to their own rooms to bunk down for the night.

Once they had all left, Seth turned back to his new consort. "And now what did you wish to discuss with me child?" Seth asked while leering at her. She knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Well I was planning on THIS!" Faith exploded into action using her full power to slam her fist directly into Seth's chest with enough force to knock him and the chair which was locked to the floor ass over teakettle.

She jumped to her feet and ran for the weapon table grabbing a pair of short swords. Faith then leaped back across the room hoping to catch the demon before he had a chance to recover. But Seth had already gotten to his feet. Stretching out his hand that was covered in metal bands of some sort the jewel in the center began to glow.

"You dare to strike your god! You shall suffer for an eternity for this." Seth roared as he launched an energy wave at her that slammed her into the wall, driving the breath from her lungs. Faith weakly looked up to see Seth stalking closer to her.

1010

In the small room outside Xander heard the meeting break up and the members began to shuffle out filing past his hiding place. Carefully he opened the door a fraction to peek out, to see if he could spot Carolyn. He saw her walk past talking excitedly with another cultist at the end of the group. Just as he was about to go out and follow them he heard the sound of a human body slamming into the wall come from the meeting room.

Without thinking about it he moved with as much speed as he could muster without making too much noise. He charged into the meeting room to see a young girl no older than sixteen dressed in some sort of golden armor that resembled Xena's on the floor with the cult leader standing over her. "Hey buddy don't you know it's not nice to pick on a girl?" Xander said raising his assault rifle to his shoulder targeting in on the guys chest.

"You dare to challenge your god! I shall enjoy making you suffer for this." Seth raised his hand and sent another energy wave in Xander's direction. The girl shouted out a warning but the energy wave hit and dissipated across his shields. Xander barely even felt it but he saw his shield strength drop by 5 percent. Whatever that weapon was it wasn't very effective but he didn't plan on letting the god wannabe get another shot off.

Xander let fly with a few armor piercing rounds that should have splattered the guy across the wall. But to his shock they slammed into an energy shield without any affect on Seth whatsoever. Realizing that guns were going to be ineffective Xander dropped the assault rifle and rushed the guy thinking to knock him out quickly.

Seth stood there sending more and more energy through the magical device on his hand trying to wear Xander's shields down but before he could do that he suddenly doubled over with a good foot of steel sticking out through his stomach. His eyes flashed a demonic white before going dark and all life leaving them, Seth was dead.

Xander looked down at the girl who had just run the demon through. "You ok?" He asked as he stretched out a hand to help her up.

"Ya I'm fine thanks for the assist." The brunette said removing the sword from the demons body before accepting Xander's hand. "I'm Faith the Vampire Slayer. Who are you?"

Xander's mind nearly went into overload at this revelation. How could this young slip of a girl be a slayer when Buffy was fine and well back in Sunnydale. It took a few seconds but then Cortana supplied the answer. "Xander didn't you once tell me that Buffy was killed by the Master last year? If the slayer spirit is passed along at death then she might have been dead long enough for it to be passed but when you revived her part of it remained behind hence causing there to be two slayers at the same time."

This took all of a few seconds but Xander could accept this for now until he could get to a phone and check to make sure that Buffy was still alive. If she was then that meant that Cortana was correct and the world now had another defender, if she was dead then it meant that the hellmouth was unguarded and he needed to get back there as soon as possible.

"I'm Spartan 117. Pleased to meet you slayer. Now we gotta get moving, no telling how many other demons are here." Xander stated picking up his assault rifle and heading for the door.

"Wait we have to get Linda, she's my watcher I'm not leaving without her!" Faith said as she followed him taking her swords with her. Xander turned to look at her and nodded sharply. "Fine, we'll pick up your watcher at the same time as I get the one I came for."

"Who ya looking for? I've seen quite a few of those idiots running around I might have seen her." Faith asked trying to get a reading on this new guy. He was wearing full body armor and carrying some heavy weapons on him but that's all she could tell.

"I'm looking for Carolyn McNally; she's about 5 foot 5 inches, dirty blonde hair and about your build." Xander replied as he moved down the hallways carefully checking each room they passed but once again they were all empty.

"I met her. Come on, she was bunking in my room I'll take you up to her." Faith said before taking off in a light run ahead of him.

"Faith wait!" But it was too late she had already rounded the corner and was heading for the stairs. Cursing under his breath about stubborn slayers Xander quickly followed her.

1010

Outside things were proceeding as planned. Colonel O'Neill and his teams had penetrated the compound security. Assigning SG-3 for rearguard status he led SG-1 and 2 further into the grounds. It took nearly ten minutes for him and his teams to cross the ground from the fence to the main house. Using Special Forces hand signals he signaled SG-2 to take point and head on in.

Major Ferretti nodded in reply and moved in, cautiously sweeping forward in a leapfrog pattern. Every room was checked, if it was occupied which some were then they were shot with a single zat blast to render them unconscious and to remove them from the effects of the nish'ta.

As each cultist they were quickly becoming a problem with so many to deal with and to keep under control. Finally Jack had had enough with the endless questions being asked and his orders for them to shut up being ignored. Grabbing his radio he called Hamnor. "Agent Hamnor come in."

"This is Hamnor. What can I do for you Colonel?" Came the response.

Looking around at the cultist who were milling about while his team tried to keep them under control. "We got a problem in here. My team is grabbing the cultists but we got too many right now to deal wit, I want you to bring some of your men in here and help us police them up."

"Roger that. I'll send half my men in now. I'm going to keep the other half out here; we found that tunnel entrance that you told us to look for. I need them out here for a rearguard incase Seth or anyone else tries to escape."

"Copy that. Major Ferretti will be on hand to help your men. Colonel O'Neill out, and return to radio silence." He said while signaling to Ferretti to stick behind and take over the group. Ferretti looked a little incensed that he had to baby-sit the cultists but moved to do his job quickly and efficiently. Carter sidled up to him.

"Sir we've accounted for thirty-seven hostages or cultists as you want to call them but that still leaves nearly another thirty still unaccounted for. Plus Seth of course."

"Understood Major. Move out." Colonel O'Neill took point this time heading down the hall silently and quickly checking each room as he passed. Now they were mostly just encountering the lone cultist or empty room. One door they opened to reveal a small armory full of zat guns, staff weapons and other Goa'uld weapons. "Whoa, we'll have to remember to come back for all this stuff later."

"Yes sir." Carter answered as she glanced over the weapons quickly taking note of a few things that she didn't recognize as standard Goa'uld tech.

They moved off again. After clearing nearly the entire downstairs area they came across a stairwell that led down into the basement. Just as Jack was about to move to head down the stairs they could hear someone coming up them.

SG-1 quickly took up covering positions with their zats aimed at the doorway. A young girl dressed in golden armor came out of the doorway with two short swords held in either hand. Before she had a chance to do anything Jack fired thinking that she was another one of the cultists. To his amazement she dodged the blast and glared at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You nearly shot me!" The young girl yelled at him. Taking up a combat stance she held the swords in front of her to block any more attacks that were coming.

Jack was about to try again when a massive armored figure holding a large weapon that resembled, barely, a futuristic assault rifle came barreling up the stairs. "Faith I said wait for me. Awww shit!"

Xander couldn't believe his luck. Not only did he now have to contend with an extremely stubborn slayer but now he had guys running around in military fatigues carrying weird guns that were now aimed at him.

"Holy shit." Jack whispered as he saw just how big this guy was. He was covered in some sort of black armor with weapons covering his body. Jack immediately thought that this was some sort of new Goa'uld body armor and fired off a zat blast only to see it harmlessly dissipate across an energy shield.

Xander barely felt the energy blast through his shields and armor but he noticed a drop in his shield strength. Realizing that he couldn't use the assault rifle without killing everyone in the hallway, he let in fall on its sling and darted forward using every ounce of speed given to him by the armor and his internal enhancements.

Colonel O'Neill barely even had time to blink before he was grabbed and brought up in a human shield position in front of the mysterious armored individual. "Now do you want to play nice or you gonna try and zap me with those funky ray guns of yours again?" Came the calm and deadly sounding voice in his ear.

"We don't deal with the likes of you snakehead." Jack responded as he tried to get out of the hold that he was in, unsuccessfully mind you.

The hallway wasn't wide enough for the rest of SG-1 to move about or to circle around. Carter moved forward closer towards the creature holding her CO. "Let him go and you won't be in anymore trouble then you're already in!" She shouted at him trying to get a clear shot without hitting Colonel O'Neill.

"I've done nothing to you and you attacked me on sight. Why should I trust you?" Xander responded as he kept the Colonel, from his rank tabs, in front of him. Faith had moved behind him seeing as she didn't know what one of those ray guns would do to her if it actually connected.

Jacob Carter who till now had been at the rear of the group moved forward trying to sense if this was a Jaffa or host. As he got closer he could tell that it was neither. "Stand down all of you. He is not Goa'uld."

Colonel O'Neill had quit struggling at this but still he looked a little shocked. "If he's not Goa'uld then what are you? How did you get to this planet and why are you here?"

Xander was a little stunned. These military people thought he was something else and they immediately thought he was an alien, which was way beyond weird in his mind.

"Cortana have you ever heard of something called a Goa'uld?" He whispered inside his helmet just low enough to prevent it from being amplified by the helmets speakers.

"No I have not. That name does not bare any resemblance to any of the known Covenant races that were encountered at the time of my arrival on this world. This may be an unknown alien race or demon one native to this dimension. Proceed with caution but I would advise letting your hostage go. Their energy weapons would need many hits to drain your shields and in that time you could kill them easily." Cortana advised while sending a transmission barely detectable by 26th century technology, which mean untraceable in this day and age, to the portion of herself that was left behind in the hummer.

The hummer on the outskirts of a lonely dirt road suddenly roared to life. The clone copy of Cortana using what power she had to access the Internet and began searching for anything that she could find on a creature called a Goa'uld.

"Ok I'm going to let you go now. I hope you'll be nice enough to not shoot me for my generosity." Xander said as he slowly let the Colonel out of the hold that he had him in.

Colonel O'Neill as soon as felt the arms holding him loosen quickly jumped away brining his zat gun up ready to defend himself if need be. "Alright so you're not a snakehead then what are you and how did you get here?"

"I have no idea what a snakehead is but I am human and I was born here on Earth just like the rest of you." Xander replied as he shifted his stance slightly to move his body in front of Faith. He couldn't quite explain it but for some reason he felt like he had to protect her, maybe it was just his inner chauvinistic side showing itself.

SG-1 exchanged glances for a few seconds trying to figure this guy out. He claimed to be from Earth but no one had the technology to make an energy shield like that. The only ones who could were the various alien races that they had encountered. "Ok if you're human then prove it. Take off the helmet" Jack ordered, knowing that more than likely it wouldn't be obeyed.

"No. If I remove my helmet then you can track me down by how I look and that's something that I don't want to happen just yet." Came the reply, Jack knew that the situation was rapidly getting out of control. Every minute that they wasted here was one more in which Seth could use to escape and they might not find him again.

"Look it doesn't matter. It's not like you're leaving here on your own anyway. Also we can track you through your friend there." Major Carter said as she pointed with her free hand at Faith who had moved out from behind the armored figure.

"I just met her here today so I think you'll find that kind of pointless." Xander replied not liking how the military was that eager to lock him up at the drop of a hat. This was one of his greatest fears since becoming a Spartan that they military would find out about him and try and experiment on him to gain the technology that created him.

Colonel O'Neill by this time had had enough. "Look we aren't here for you. We came to get this guy named Seth. You know about ya tall, black hair glowing eyes? You might have seen him around?"

The young girl answered to his surprise. "Oh ya that guy. He drugged me and tried to make me his Queen. Hate to say you're a little late if you wanted to talk to him, he kinda had a disagreement with my blade here." Faith said as she held up the sword in question. The blade was stained red from the blood.

"Christ, where is the body?" Jack asked hoping that the snake was still there and not in a sarcophagus being revived as they spoke.

"Downstairs last door at the end of the hall. Take a right as you go down the stairs. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go find the people that I came for."

"You're not going anywhere till we get some answers"Jack said.

"Oh I don't think so. You see your weapons can't penetrate my shields and I don't think you have any shields of your own. So here's how its gonna play out. Me and my friend here are going to go collect the people that we came for and you're going to let us go." Xander said as he raised the assault rifle to aim it directly at Colonel O'Neill's head.

Quickly thinking it over O'Neill that at the rate that this situation was deteriorating that it could end in a bloodbath extremely quickly and he couldn't see anyway out that left his team on top. Reluctantly he stood aside. "Alright, you can go. Though I do ask that you not leave the grounds just yet. There's a ton of ATF agents swarming the grounds and it would be a little hard for us to explain your presence to them. If you stick around I'll try and sneak you out, in exchange you talk to us for a short time."

Xander looked like he was about to disagree but Cortana intervened. "Xander accept the deal. If you leave now and those ATF agents are really out there then you will be spotted and the government will never rest in trying to track you down. That will hamper our operations significantly, take the deal we can always lie about whatever they ask us."

The armored figure nodded. "I accept the deal and it goes for me and whoever I take with me. I want your word that you will never attempt to track them down."

Colonel O'Neill looked at his team and saw the acceptance in their eyes though Jacob's was a little more strained. Selmac was probably giving him a tough time, the Tok'ra were notorious over wanting to get their hands on advanced tech with which to use to destroy the System Lords. "Fine you have my word and that goes for my team as well."

With that the group broke up. SG-1 heading down the stairs keeping a wary eye on the two that they were leaving behind. Even after they said that they meant no harm they still didn't really trust them.

Xander and Faith turned to head up the stairs towards the bunk room that Faith had said was occupied by Linda and Carolyn. Taking the stairs two at a time the two raced towards the room knowing that they had to get to them soon before the military did.

Heading downstairs SG-1 quickly and efficiently searched every room before heading for the one that they had been told contained the corpse of Seth. Entering the room they found the body exactly where it should be, a giant pool of blood surrounding his body.

Jacob quickly moved forward to check the body, since he had a Tok'ra already inside him he was safe from the Goa'uld attempting to take him over if it was still alive. Rolling the body on its stomach he could see the lump on the back of Seth's neck indicating the presence of a symbiote but it was immobile more than likely dead from the sudden massive trauma inflicted upon its chosen host.

"He's dead Jack." Jacob reported after his quick examination.

"Good. Jacob, Teal'c you grab SG-3 and begin rounding up all the snake's toys from this floor and the ground floor. Try to keep the ATF boys from seeing any of it if you can. Carter, Daniel you're with me we're going after our new friends." Jack ordered knowing that they had to move quickly if they were going to catch up with those two individuals before they left the compound grounds.

The group split each going where they were assigned to do their duty. As they were running up the stairs Daniel asked. "uh Jack why are we going after them I thought we said we would leave them alone and try to sneak them out."

"Daniel if their friends were here then they're more than likely drugged with nish'ta and I didn't see any zat gun with them. They have no idea what there are getting into." Jack replied as he tried to figure out which direction they had gone.

"Oh, good point."

Xander and Faith had made good time to the bunk room and found Linda and Carolyn inside praying to the demon Seth for its blessing. "Any idea on how to get them back to normal?" Xander asked. Faith had somehow managed it so their must be a way of breaking the drug's influence.

"I don't know. My slayer healing got me out from it, but I can't use it on them. You got anything in that high tech rambo suit of yours?" Faith asked. She was trying to hide it but she was really worried. Linda was the closest thing she had to family right now. The first person in a long time that had cared for her in any way she wouldn't lose her now, not to some drug by some frigging demon, not if she could help it.

"I have no idea what type of drug was used and I didn't bring any equipment to counteract mind-altering drugs. I thought all the cultists that were up here were here either by choice or under a spell from the demon downstairs." Xander said as he desperately tried to think of a way to bring his childhood friend back.

Before he could do anything or even ask Cortana if she knew of anything three of those military idiots barged into the room with their ray guns aimed at Linda and Carolyn.

"Everyone freeze!" Xander roared as he brought the assault rifle up aiming at the Colonel again. Faith brought her swords up and jumped in front of Linda, no way was she letting these gun-ho idiots shoot Linda.

Jack didn't move his zat from aiming at the cultist. "Listen buddy the drug that they're under is destroyed by an electrical charge. A zat gun will bring them out from under it I swear it." Jack knew that the slightest mistake would result in him and his entire team getting shot really quickly.

"Ya and if you're lying then my friends die. Think of another one buddy. There's no way I'm letting you shoot my friends with those funky ray guns." Xander said as he slowly moved over to block Carolyn from their line of sight.

Cortana began working furiously trying to come up with something, anything to defuse this situation before it went to hell. Quickly analyzing everything she had on the energy weapon she came to realize that it worked by disrupting the atomic bonds in an objects structure, the blast they had been hit with hadn't carried enough of a charge to affect a human body beyond causing extreme pain. Cortana weighed all the possible choices available to her and came to a decision. "Xander let them use their energy guns. A single shot does not have enough energy to kill a human. It would take multiple shots to deliver enough energy to do so."

Xander could barely believe what he was hearing. Cortana was arguing that he should let his friend be shot with an unknown weapon. "Are you insane? If you're wrong then she dies."

"Do you see any other option at this point? Even if we manage to get her out of here without getting shot, an event that is extremely unlikely at this point, we have no way of counteracting the drug ourselves without taking an extremely long time to study it and test it out on subjects to make sure its correct. They came in here with those weapons meaning that they've had experience in the past so it must work and to put it bluntly we don't have a lot of options available to us right now."

Xander slowly lowered his assault rifle and stood out of the line of fire. Muttering a quick prayer to a god that he really didn't believe in but hoping that this time it would be answered. "Alright you can use it on Carolyn here. But I swear if she dies, you won't live to regret it."

"Are you insane? You're going to let him shoot her with that thing!" Faith nearly screamed at him. If she didn't have to block them from getting close to Linda she would have smacked him upside the head for such stupidity.

"We don't really have a lot of choices and I'm sure he knows what will happen to him if he's lying to me." Xander replied as he kept the rifle in a relaxed position but ready to bring it up and fire at a moments notice.

Jack could tell even though he couldn't see his eyes that he was being watched very carefully and that any mistake on his part would result in a very painful, very messy death for him and probably the rest of his team. Nodding once in acknowledgment of the threat and his understanding he moved forward and took careful aim at the blond that the armored man had been shielding. With one tap of the trigger a short blast of energy was released and Carolyn slumped to the ground.

For a tense moment nobody moved, holding their breath praying that she would quickly recover. Carolyn moved slowly trying to work through the pain that wracked her body. "Ugh, did anyone get the number of that truck that hit me?"

Xander moved quickly kneeling down beside her. "Carolyn? Lyn are you ok?" He asked using one of the childhood nicknames he had for her.

Carolyn looked up at the yellowish faceshield of the armored figure standing over her. For a moment she looked scared but then it hit her. He called her Lyn; only one person ever called her that. "Xander? Is that you?"

Overcome with happiness he dropped the rifle and pulled her into a hug carefully watching his strength so he didn't crush her. Carolyn gave back just as good hugging him through the armor.

Jack watched from his place near the door, having a happy ending was always good. Knowing that they would probably be awhile he turned back to the girl in the Xena style armor. "Ok you can see that it worked on your friend's friend there. I swear it only hurts for a short time and it removes the effects of the drug. Will you let me use it on your friend?"

Faith looked torn for a moment, wanting more than anything to get Linda back. But what if it was a trick, how could she be sure that it would work for her. With her luck it wouldn't and it would end up killing Linda. Thinking carefully Faith finally nodded her head giving him the go ahead but not before saying. "She's not a friend, she's my mom." It came somewhat as a surprise even to her but that's how she felt about Linda, the closest thing in nearly three years to a mom, someone who loved her for who she was, not what she could do for them.

Jack nodded once. "Ok then. Just one shot and you get your mom back." With that he once again tapped the trigger sending a bolt of blue lighting to cascade across Linda's body. Faith held her breath hoping against hope that it would work, that she wouldn't be left alone in the world again.

When Linda's eyes fluttered open the first thing she saw was Faith standing over her, blinking back tears in her eyes. "Faith?"

That broke the dam and Faith grabbed Linda up in a bear hug. Linda returned it in kind, soothingly stroking Faith's hair whispering to her that things were going to be alright.

Colonel O'Neill had to blink back tears of his own and he waited patiently for the group to pull themselves back together. They had regained their families and he could afford to wait a few moments. When they seemed to be regaining control and pulling themselves back to normal he cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ok I guess we have a few things to talk about then don't we?"

Xander was the first to respond. After standing up and reclaiming his assault rifle from the floor of course. "You're going to stick to you're end of the bargain we made?"

Jack looked a little uncomfortable but nodded his assent. "Yes you're free to go after a short debriefing." Holding up his hands to prevent any yelling he continued on speaking. "I know it's not what we agreed on but there are matters of national security here. You've seen things that you shouldn't have and I have to address them to make sure that you don't reveal it to the public. My hands are tied here on that matter."

Meanwhile back at the hummer. Cortana's clone copy had been going through millions upon millions of website's across the world. Accessing, thousands of databases looking for any reference to anything remotely resembling a Goa'uld and snakehead. Finally she had found something, buried on a remote archeology website she found a thesis written by one Dr. Daniel Jackson about his theory that the great pyramids having been built by an alien race that had visited Earth sometime in the past. Using that as a basis she expanded her search to encompass any reference to aliens known as snakeheads. She found everything that she would ever need to know in a government classified database in an agency called the NID.

"Xander I have some new information. I found reference's to Goa'uld in the governments classified net." Cortana began to rely the information as fast as she could knowing that time was a precious commodity right now. Xander listened to the info that Cortana was feeding him with mixed feelings. It was great to know that humanity wasn't alone in this universe but he was horrified to learn that these aliens had enslaved mankind across the galaxy and were threatening to destroy the Earth if they ever got the chance.

Jack was about to ask them all to come with him for the debriefing but before he could open his mouth the armored figure spoke.

"You're SG-1 aren't you? Stargate Command 1 and the Goa'uld are an alien race that take human hosts and attempt to destroy mankind or enslave him correct?"

Jack, Daniel and Sam were stunned that someone had this kind of knowledge on them. This meant an extremely high security breach at the SGC. "How do you know all that?" Jack demanded. If this was some sort of NID trick then he was gonna lock them up in Leavenworth till Hell froze over.

"I access the government classified internet. Everything I needed to know was kept in a computer terminal inside the National Intelligence Division. They apparently have complete dossiers on you and every man and woman that works at the SGC. I must say it makes forinteresting reading."

"So now what? You know why we want to talk to you and why we want the technology your armor represents." Jack asked hoping that this wouldn't turn out to be a clusterfuck.

"I guess we can talk on the condition that we can leave at anytime and refuse to answer certain questions. I know I have my own operational security to defend though I don't know about you two." This last bit was said to Faith and Linda. Carolyn was just standing there trying to figure out what was going on.

Linda who still had an arm around Faith nodded her head. This situation was why the Council always attempted to keep out of the governments eyes. They have the resources to keep any investigation from finding them but if they were caught it got harder to bury a file or to rescue the agents involved.

"Alright I guess we'll go with you for now. Remember our deal, we get to keep our weapons and leave whenever we want to and refuse to answer certain questions. This is non-negotiable." Xander stated hoping that he was doing the right thing. Cortana was telling him that as a Spartan he had been created to defend mankind from alien threats and that this was a good thing.

"Alright you got yourself a deal. Let's get going, we'll head up to Seattle international airport and then back to the SGC where we'll all have a nice chat about what the hell is going on around here." Jack said, already imagining the eruption that was awaiting him in the form of one General George Hammond. Though Hammond would be pleased slightly that some of this would fall on the NID and not the SGC completely. Faith was looking a little lost but was willing to go along with what Linda thought was best. As they were turning to go she thought of something.

"Uh wait, before we go. Carolyn you said that my old clothes were taken and put somewhere. Do you know where they are, I really want to get them back and out of this sex slave outfit.

10101010

Back in Sunnydale. Angel and Buffy were walking down the street hand in hand acting for like they didn't have a care in the world. It was getting pretty late and Buffy was thinking of heading back home to get some shuteye but also she was kinda of nervous.

Their route had brought them back to Angel's apartment and they stood at the door. Angel not wanting this night to end and Buffy feeling like maybe now was the right time. Angel was the greatest guy she had ever known, he was caring loving and best of all she felt safe when she was with him.

"Well I guess this is goodnight." Angel said trying to think of the right way to ask her in without sounding too corny.

"It doesn't have to end now does it?" Buffy asked pouting just a little bit as she tried to act a little sexier and grown up. She didn't want him to think of her as a kid even though there was a two hundred age difference between the two of them.

Angel looked a little shocked but recovered quickly. "Do you want to come in?" He asked while unlocking the door.

"I'd like that." She moved past him and into the apartment putting a little more swing in her hips as she did so. Buffy had been her a few times before and knew exactly where the bed was. She went straight to it and sat down a little nervously folding her hands in her lap.

Angel stood in the doorway for a moment before understanding just what it was that she was thinking. He gently shut the door and walked over to her.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Notes: Sorry for such a long time without an update for this story. I shall attempt to keep them more regular in the future but no promises. Any complaints, ideas, suggestions or comments please post in a review as always I will read them all and take them all seriously.

Chapter 10.

Xander stood silently beside Carolyn as Colonel O'Neill talked into his radio asking for Major Ferretti to get a truck and pull it up outside the main doors of the mansion. Xander whispered low enough to prevent his helmets microphones from automatically broadcasting his speech throughout the room. "So Cortana what else have you been able to find out about this SG-1 and the stargate?"

Up to this point she had been busy going through all the data that her clone self had managed to find about the stargate program based out of Cheyenne Mountain. "It is partly an exploration unit designed to visit alien worlds through the stargate in the hopes of acquiring advanced alien technologies to be used in the defense of Earth from hostile alien races, most notably one called the Goa'uld who seem to think of themselves as gods. To this date they have had little luck in actually acquiring any worthwhile amounts of technology that would be useful in the defense of Earth."

"Great so we have yet another enemy who wants mankind on its knee's, only this one has real weapons that can blast the Earth into a cinder from orbit." Xander muttered under his breath after Cortana displayed on his helmet HUD a picture of a standard Goa'uld warship.

"It would appear so. I know you don't want to hear this Xander but we now have a slight problem. I was created as you know to defend mankind against alien threats, this is part of my core programming, and we now have evidence of a real alien threat to mankind." Cortana started to say before being cut off by Xander.

"I know, I know. Damn I was hoping that this wouldn't come for sometime to come. For right now we're not going to make any plans set in stone, ok? When we get back to alpha base then we can hash this out till we come up with a plan to deal with both threats." Xander stated. This was another one of those small problems that had been plaguing his mind recently. Ever since he had become the Spartan he had known in the farthest reaches of his mind that the Spartan program had been created to defend mankind from all threats though the most deadly one had been deemed alien incursions not demonic and that simple probability analysis indicated that their was more than likely an alien race in this universe that could prove to be a deadly threat to mankind. He had always assumed that it would be quite a few years before that problem came to the fore but now it appeared he was going to have to make a decision soon about where the real threat lay, in the stars or here on Earth.

While they had been talking to each other Faith had been getting changed out of that ridiculous Xena style outfit back into her normal clothes that she had originally worn to the mansion before being drugged by Seth. Feeling much better to have her coat and boots back, they being one of the few gifts that she had ever gotten, she now felt more like herself and prepared to deal with the major weirdness that had become such a part of her life.

Faith came out of the bathroom in which she had been changing and walked over to where Linda was standing beside the armored figure who had identified himself only as Spartan. "So what's the plan?"

Linda wrapped an arm around Faith's shoulders and pulled her in for a half hug. "Well I think for now we'll go with these gentleman and we shall play it by ear."

Returning the half hug Faith nodded her assent for the plan. While she would have preferred getting out of this place all together she would go along with whatever Linda thought was best. Glancing over at the imposing figure in the armor she whispered to Linda. "Do you know anything about him or whatever he's supposed to be?"

"From what I remember reading, he is supposed to be the new hunter who has made an impressive impact on the underworld since his first appearance. He was supposed to be on the hellmouth from all accounts where he was doing a better job of securing it than any other hunter in recent history." Linda replied making sure to keep her voice low enough that the soldier's wouldn't over hear her. Thinking to herself Linda knew that this was the Spartan who had the council in an uproar since he usurped the Slayer's position on the hellmouth as its true guardian. In her mind he had done a better job than that fool Summers ever had, at least he didn't consort with demons and pretend one of them was his lover. The only reason the council hadn't sacked Ms Summers the instant that they had learned of her treacherous liaisons with the demon known as Angelus was that at the time she seemed to be doing a good job but her performance as of late was appalling.

Colonel O'Neill looked over at the motley group that somehow had not only managed to penetrate security on a NID terminal to learn of the existence of the stargate but had also managed to kill a Goa'uld host. General Hammond was going to shoot him when he reported this one, though he might be a little happier once they had finished cataloging all the snake-head's equipment that had been found throughout the mansion. With enough of the weapons and other tech gizmo's that had been found he might be able to bribe Hammond from having him shot on the spot.

"Daniel, have you ever seen anything like that armor that guy is wearing?" He asked while keeping his eyes focused on the guy in said armor.

Daniel turned his gaze upon the armored figure as well. "I've never seen anything like it that I can remember but for some reason it looks familiar. When we get back to the base I'll have to research it."

"Ya, you do that." Jack said not really paying attention. "Ok, people let's get a move on. Our ride is out front waiting for us. We're all gonna take a short trip and then we'll figure out where to go from there."

The group seemed to all look at the armored figure, who nodded and began to move towards the stairs. Everyone else followed him down the stairs where the quickly moved to the main entry of the mansion. Once downstairs the small group was joined by Teal'c and Jacob Carter who were lugging Seth's body up from the basement. Even though he was dead there was still plenty that could be learned from the physiology of the goa'uld symbioate that remained inside the human host. O'Neill walked over to where Major Ferretti was attempting to move all of the former hostages slash cultists out of the mansion so that the SGC personnel could begin to strip the place of all the Goa'uld tech that seemed to be lying around.

"Major I want you to coordinate with the ATF boys on the debriefings. Get as much info as you can on Seth's dealings on Earth but try and keep it so that the ATF doesn't find out he was an alien." He said in a low voice to avoid being overheard by the few civilians who were close enough to listen in.

"Yes sir." Major Ferretti responded with a salute quickly moving to carry out his orders. Agent Hamnor was on his way back in from the field still leaving a sizeable amount of his men standing guard on the tunnel exit they found just in case but with the situation deemed over he had decided to head back on in to help with the cleanup.

Turning back to the motley band of interlopers as he was beginning to call them in his head Colonel O'Neill began trying to figure out how he was going to explain this all to General Hammond. Before he could even do anything Joseph McNally, having entered along with Jason Levinson when it seemed as if the military and ATF had things firmly under control, the father of one of the cultists spotted his daughter and rushed to pull her into a bearhug. Knowing that it would be a few minutes before those two let go of each other he just turned to the man in armor, if it was even a man. For all he knew it could be a woman, though the voice that came out of the helmet the few times he had spoken had sounded male so O'Neill decided to just go ahead and assume it was a guy underneath all that armor. "Before we try and get out of here you gonna give me anything about yourself or is this going to turn into a twenty questions deal?"

Xander turned his head to look at the Colonel who was looking very harried with all the surprises and twists that this mission had taken. Deciding to play the mysterious man routine to the hilt he merely said. "Depends on the questions. I might be willing to answer some but don't count on getting my life story."

"Figures." O'Neill muttered under his breath. He hadn't expected the guy to make it easy on them but he was somewhat surprised that guy had agreed to answer any questions at all. Hell he was surprised that he stuck around at all. With the armor and shields that he had Jack had half expected him to just bully his way right out of the building and there didn't seem to be a damn thing that he could have done to stop him if he wanted to leave.

The sound of a large truck pulling up to the front of the building alerted everyone to the fact that their ride was here. O'Neill turned to look at the armored man. "Alright, its time to go. Everyone into the truck."

Xander turned to look at Carolyn and Joseph and beckoned them forward. "I want these two to come with us Colonel. Jack looked over the two civilians who were trying to hide their interest in just what the hell was going on around here. Thinking about it for a moment Jack nodded in agreement that they could come along as well. It wasn't likely that those two would be able to shed any relevant information on who the armored man was or why he was here taking out the rogue System Lord but it wouldn't be such a bad idea to at least humor the guy till they could get back to the SGC where the hard questions would be asked. Hell it might even make him more agreeable to actually answer those questions if they let the two civvies come along for the ride.

101010

In the air over the Atlantic ocean Jenny Calendar also known as Janna Kalderash sat in her first class chair reviewing all of the material known about the curse placed on Angelus over a hundred years ago by her clan. The Kalderash clan had continued to maintain a watch over the torment of the demon Angelus after the spell had been placed on him to return the soul of the mortal Liam to the body that Angelus inhabited it in an attempt to keep themselves apprised of the status of said soul. This was also done with the knowledge that if Angelus was ever released again he would without a doubt attempt to take his revenge on the clan that cursed him before they could recover the long lost secrets of how to recreate the curse.

The torment that he was experiencing had been slowly lifting over the past few months. The clan's most respected and powerful mages were at a lose to explain it. If it continued to the point where the spell was actually lifted then the world would be in for a bloodbath the likes of which hadn't been seen since the time when the four vampires who made up the Scourge of Europe were all together. Also it would be extremely unlikely that they would receive any help from the Slayer seeing as she was infatuated with her demon paramour that she would in all honesty probably attempt to derail any plan to destroy Angelus if he was ever released.

"That's a crying shame now isn't it? She'll just have to either be taken out of the picture or cut out of the loop." Jenny mused to herself as she worked on translating the ancient curse into modern English. While she knew instinctively that Cortana could effortlessly translate it in seconds she was also unavailable at the moment and it was best to get a head start on the translation anyway.

Leaning back in her chair Jenny relished in the delicious pleasure of flying first class for the first time in her life. Thanks to Cortana having stripped the drug cartels of their finances that she could find through the internet it meant that she and Xander possessed an ungodly amount of disposable income in which to use for the more mundane things in life. Though it went without saying that the vast majority of the money was tied up being used in the various projects that Cortana was conducting in an attempt to increase the technological level of humanity to something approaching the level of the UNSC without sending the Earth into war. Cortana had reasoned that the Covenant or something similar must exist in this universe and that sooner or later mankind was going to run into it. Better to have a few centuries head start on weapons technology and be able to give them the asskicking that they so deserved when they showed up this time round if the Covenant actually existed and if some peaceful race of aliens appeared, well then mankind could deal with them on a nice level playing field then couldn't they.

101010

The plane was silent as it rumbled through the night sky on its trip back to Colorado Springs where a meeting that would change the course of human history would take place. Demon hunters and alien hunters sat in the passenger compartment taking quick furtive glances at each other, trying to determine exactly what the other was hiding and how to pry those secrets out of them without giving away their own. Only one man and machine knew all the secrets and for the moment he wasn't talking. Xander was too busy going over all the data that Cortana had stripped from the NID central database in an attempt to learn more about the Goa'uld and their operational patterns before the debriefing occurred at the SGC. An image of an alien that looked remarkably like that of a Roswell gray flashed across his HUD and he blinked. "What the hell is that?"

"That would be Thor, supreme commander of the Asgard fleet and according to a report by Colonel O'Neill the very reason why Earth has been included in the protected planets treaty. Namely the only reason why mankind is still alive, I say we have a lot to thank him for." Cortana replied as she reviewed all of the very limited information on the Asgard. While they were one of the original four races involved in the great Alliance they seemed to be the only ones that had continued in their role as caretakers for the younger races and that had all but ceased in the last few years. No doubt due to the fact that they were on the verge of losing their war with the replicators in their home galaxy.

"Ok, remind me to send a fruit basket next time he's in town." Xander quipped as he read all of that information displayed on his helmet screen. It was true that mankind had a debt to repay to the Asgard and Thor especially.

"Down to the important things, what are you planning on telling General Hammond about yourself? You do realize that they will not let you leave the SGC without giving them a good reason as to why you have MJOLNIR armor and UNSC style weaponry." Cortana asked as she began to create an escape plan based on the floor plans of the SGC.

"We could always try the truth. From what I've read here it seems that General Hammond and SG-1 are pretty much on the level. When they make a promise they keep it." Xander said as he thought of the possible ramifications of revealing the existence of demons and magic to the United States government.

Cortana mused it over for a few seconds. While it did appear, on paper at the least, that General Hammond and his subordinates were on the level in reality that could be another thing entirely. Also it didn't take into account that General Hammond was required to report something of this magnitude to his superiors and it went without saying that they would want to investigate further into the existence of demons and magic. "That has it's own problems. We may have to play it by ear once we arrive at the SGC but we should attempt to prevent them from either learning of my existence or the locations of our bases."

"Agreed and also we don't give out any names that they can trace back to Sunnydale. That includes Jenny, Buffy, Giles, Joyce, Oz, and Willow. It might take them time to find them but if we give them a name they'll keep at it until they do and I rather not have them find out anything that they don't need to know."

"Understood." Cortana absently replied as she shunted a miniscule portion of power to transmit new orders to the hummer which was currently enroute to Colorado Springs where it would be available to intercept them if needed. Also it could serve as an escape vehicle if they had to fight their way out of the SGC for whatever reason.

The remainder of the plane ride was spent in silence as each group kept to itself and merely sat back in the seats staring at the other group.

101010

Getting into the SGC now was much more easier than it had once been with the new secondary tunnel system that had been constructed once the President had green lighted the expansion of the project. It had been deemed necessary to dig a new vehicle access tunnel from the surface down to the SGC to allow armor, mobile artillery pieces and troop transport vehicles access to the motor pool level that was being dug out adjacent to the gate room in anticipation of those vehicles being used in off world missions. Also it made it much easier to get supplies and personnel into the facility without having to go through NORAD security and then having to face the much tougher and restrictive SGC security. Though that wasn't to say that they new tunnel didn't have its own security built it, every hundred feet there was an access blast door that by itself was sufficient to seal off the surface access way unless you were willing to go through the effort of blasting through them.

The SGC had been expanded to include many new levels that were being slowly filled with equipment slated to be transported off world where it would be used to build a colony to insure the continuation of the human race and the fight against the Goa'uld system lords would continue with an actual chance of success. From every branch of the military, navy, air force, marines, army and even from the civilian agencies people with the needed security clearance were slowly being culled and brought through to the SGC where they were given one last final checkup and then sent off to the Alpha site on the other side of the galaxy. It was in a region that according to the limited data that the SG teams had been able to secure proved to be remarkably empty of alien races or Goa'uld slave worlds. Meaning that it was the perfect place to hid an off world colony and a place to begin construction of the first of Earth's new defense fleet. For the moment it was mostly comprised of ships stolen from the System Lords but plans were under way to design and construct purely Terran based warships that would be able to go toe to toe with a Ha'tak class mothership in combat.

After landing at a nearby air field specifically slated to be used by the SGC since it might at times need a location that was secure enough to land small spacecraft, like a Tok'ra cargo ship, or in cases like this when it was transporting SG teams back to base and didn't want to risk them being seen by anyone who wasn't cleared to know about the things that went on down below NORAD, everyone was moved to a waiting transport vehicle which would take them the rest of the way into the mountain fortress. All in all it took nearly forty minutes to pass through all the security check points which were between them and entrance to the SGC.

101010

Colonel O'Neill having gone on ahead to prepare General Hammond for the meeting that was about to occur stepped into his superiors office. "Colonel, how did the mission go?"

"It went as well as expected, sir." Came the cryptic reply.

Hammond leaned back in his chair and put down the pen that he had been using to full out the days duty reports. It looked like once again SG-1 had been sent out on what seemed to be a simple mission and had now brought a problem back with them. "Out with it Colonel. What exactly went wrong this time?"

"We ran into trouble when we encountered a group of ATF agents conducting a surveillance operation on Seth and were about to attempt to take him into custody." O'Neill began to recite the list of problems that had plagued this operation. It was quite a long and extensive list that encompassed the entirety of the mission and the reason why they had come back from Seth's compound with five people in tow.

"Let me get this straight Colonel. You agreed to let them enter one of the most heavily defended, highly classified and best kept secret base on this planet and to top it off you allowed them to keep possession of all the weapons that they currently had on their person. What were you thinking?" General Hammond boomed out as his voice rose in power over the course of his speech.

Wincing from the thunderous volume that his superior had managed to put out. Colonel O'Neill attempted to defend his actions. "Sir, I didn't really have a lot of options. If I attempted to take them into custody it would have resulted in a bloodbath. The armored man not only had enough firepower to fight his way out of the compound but was also in possession of energy shielding that negated the usefulness of our zat's. Not to mention the fallout that would have occurred if any of the ATF boys had managed to get a good look at him while he was leaving. At the time it seemed like the most sensible option and it might actually gain us something in the long run, uh sir."

"Where are they now?" Hammond asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose. It was going to be one of those days, he just knew it. "They should be coming into the briefing room in a few moments."

"Well this should be one of the more interesting meetings that I've ever attended. Is there anything else that I should know before we go meet them, anything else that you promised them already?" Hammond asked as he stood.

"Uh, that they would be free to go after the debriefing."

'Why me?' Hammond thought to himself. Why was he the one that had to clean up after the disasters that SG-1 created? They had the most experience, the best luck out of all of the teams created for the use by the SGC but they seemed to be the ones that were always in it up to their necks and for some reason they always seemed to come out on top but one of these days they wouldn't and he didn't relish being the one to have to sort out that mess when it finally arrived.

101010

Xander stood silently in his armor looking out through the briefing room window at the view of the stargate. It was one thing to look at the pictures from the NID database, it was quite another to actually look upon the ancient device with his own eyes. Something about the ring spoke to him on a deeper level, of times long forgotten and of powers that had once shaped mankind's destiny. "Impressive."

Cortana easily agreed with him on that point. A device capable of interstellar, hell intergalactic travel that could connect distance planets together much like a railroad station. To be able to step through the gate on one planet and appear on another on the other side of the galaxy, it would be one of the ultimate methods of transporting troops around the galaxy. Though it did have the normal drawbacks consistent with bottleneck defenses. You might know where the enemy had to come through to get here but you never knew when he was coming or in what strength.

Faith, Linda, Carolyn and Joseph merely stood near the table not truly understanding the importance of the stargate but understanding that with the level of security that they had seen on the way in that it was more than likely extremely important. Linda was attempting to figure out where she had seen something resembling the ring before. More than likely from one of the older texts that were kept in the council's vaults but for the life of her she couldn't remember anything pertaining to the ring.

The remaining members of SG-1 along with Jacob Carter stood on one side of the conference table waiting for Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond to arrive. They didn't have to wait very long before the office door and the two senior officers emerged to take their places near the head of the table.

"Everyone be seated." Hammond ordered as he sat at the head of the table. SG-1 took their places along one side of the table and the unknowns each took a seat on the opposite side with the large armored man sitting the closest to Hammond. The chair he sat in groaned audibly as he sat down telling everyone in the room that he was either a very heavy man or his armor weighed a lot.

"I am General George Hammond commanding officer of this facility and to my right is Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and General Jacob Carter." Hammond said then waving a hand towards the armored man hoping for at least a name or even a title with which to refer to him.

"Spartan." Was the only reply from the armored figure and it didn't get any better as it went down the line.

"Watcher." "Slayer"

The last two who were obvious civilians looked at each other and then sent questioning glances towards the Spartan obviously looking for guidance on what to give for a name. Spartan for his part turned to look at them for a moment and then said. "Carolyn and Joseph McNally. You would've been able to find out their information easily enough so there isn't any point in hiding their identities."

"Well then lets get down to business. Care to explain why you were present at that compound?"

"I was sent on a rescue mission in order to extract Carolyn from the cult. At the time I was unaware of the mind altering drug being used to insure that all members of the cult were totally obedient to its leader." Spartan offered.

"And the rest of you?" Hammond asked as he looked at the two women who had identified themselves as 'Watcher' and 'Slayer'.

"We were sent in order to remove Seth from power. He had killed our previous operative and it was decided to better insure success to send two agents this time instead of the previous one." Watcher said as she looked directly into General Hammond's eyes.

"And why exactly were you interested in Seth in the first place?" Daniel asked as he looked over the motley bunch. Something in the back of his head was screaming at him about the armored that it was something that he had seen before but for right now he couldn't place it.

"Oh, no we answered one of your questions now its time for you to do the same." Slayer piped in for the first time since giving her moniker. "I want to know what those funky ass ray guns of yours are and why those two are setting of my slaydar." She said while pointing at Jacob and Teal'c.

"Maybe its time we all came clean. I see no way out of this for all of us without revealing everything, or nearly everything for that matter." Spartan said as he stood and moved toward the briefing room window. "This goes against my better judgment but from what I've been able to learn about this facility and its mandate from the NID database is that its command staff is trustworthy and that they keep their word."

"That might mean something to you but what about us?" Watcher countered as she stood to move across from him. Hammond looked at the two who were glaring at each other. Well one glaring and the other merely standing there looking back, it was impossible to tell what facial expressions the Spartan was making being the faceshield of his armor. Obviously they were the two in charge or at least with the most knowledge of what exactly was going on around here.

"We don't really have a lot of choices now do we? If you want you don't have to reveal anything that you know but for now I think its time for at least one of us to come clean." Spartan argued.

Cortana was wondering at the change in tactics by Xander. This was a wide breach from the plan that they had put together before they arrived at the SGC. "Xander what are you doing?"

"They have the best interest of the human race in mind and they're doing their best to insure the survival of mankind. I think it's about time that they learn of the other war that's being fought here on Earth."

Reaching up Spartan grasped his helmet with one hand and slowly pulled it off to reveal a human face that looked about twenty years old. "My name is Alexander Harris and I am a demon hunter." The whole room went completely silent as they looked at this young man.

The silence was broken when first Major Carter and then Dr Jackson said in near unison. "Demons don't exist."

"Why, just because you've never seen one doesn't mean that they don't exist." Xander replied as he set his helmet down on the table. He was taking an extremely large risk by revealing his true identity but from the reports on SG-1 it seemed like they were trustworthy enough to be given this information. "I've been fighting them for nearly two years now and I can state quite clearly that demons do exist and that the majority of them want the complete destruction of mankind, much like the Goa'uld in fact."

"What sort of proof do you have that demons exist?" Hammond asked as he tried to absorb this new information.

"I have recorded visuals in my helmets computer system that shows the results of some of my hunts, would that suffice for now?"

"That would do for now but I would like it if you could offer up some more tangible bits of evidence." Hammond said as he motioned for SG-1 to sit back down and remain quiet. Hitting the button on the table that controlled the projection screen he motioned for Alexander to show them his visual records of his so called 'demons'. For the next few minutes the room was quiet as everyone stared at the screen absorbing the information displayed as it showed images of combat in areas ranging from graveyards to underground tunnels that were filled with beings that belonged in horror movies not real life. Both Linda and Faith already knew of the existence of demons but even they were surprised at the number of kills that Alexander had managed to wrack up in such a short amount of time. By Linda's best guess he had just shown them records of him eliminating at least seventy-two different demons, most of whom were described in the council's books as extremely dangerous.

Joseph and Carolyn starred in mute horror at the screen. Xander had told them both nearly two years ago the truth about what had happened to Jessie but here for the first time was proof that they could see for their own eyes about what went on in Sunnydale after dark. Here was proof that the town that they lived in was actually Hell's doorstep and that creatures of myth and legend walked its streets randomly slaughtering any human they came across.

The reactions from SG-1 were no better as they looked upon creatures that were out of the very worst nightmares of humanity and while it could be that some of the images could have been doctored or faked it just seemed too realistic.

"So now you know my secret and why I wished to keep my identity a secret." Alexander said as he sat back down in his chair extremely carefully to prevent it from collapsing under the weight of his armor.

Major Carter even after seeing all the images on screen was adamant in her refusal to buy into the belief that creatures known as demons walked the Earth. "It's not true; those could be faked or false images. Hell I've seen images like those at the movie theatre, you haven't shown us anything that couldn't be falsified by other means."

Sighing to himself Xander retorted. "What would it take to make you believe in the existence of demons?"

"I don't think there is anything that you can show us that would make us believe. Anything that can be produced on your helmets displays could have also been faked." She responded with the mantra in her head going full tilt. 'Demons are not real, demons are not real. It is scientifically impossible for demons to exist.'

"Then you're just being stubborn. As I've already said simply because you haven't encountered a demonic being before doesn't make them any less real. There have been tens of thousands of demon hunters throughout history who have given their lives in a valiant effort to insure humanity exists and you sit here and say demons don't exist." Xander stated. "How can you presume to know everything about the Earth, it holds secrets that to this day stump the best the world has to offer and you have the sheer gall to say that since you have never seen it, it can't possibly exist."

With that the room seemed to sit back in stalemate. Xander sat on one side who already knew of the existence of creatures that were natural enemies of mankind and who could only be described as demonic while the other side was stacked with the military minded who refused to believe in the truth of something that they could not see. Thinking that there was no way he was going to ever convince the military that demons actually existed Xander was worried that now that he had revealed his true identity to them that they would either just toss him in the slammer till he died or they would attempt to covertly keep informants on him at all times to keep track of what he did after he left the SGC assuming that he was allowed to leave in the first place.

A low pitched hum filled the air and at the opposite end of the table from General Hammond appeared the small form of Thor, sitting in his throne like chair.

"What the hell is that!" Shouted Faith as she saw what to her eyes looked like a demon appearing out of thin air. 'And they say they don't believe in demons, for fucks sake they have one right here in front of them!'

SG-1, Jacob and General Hammond all winced at the tone that Faith had just used when she reacted to Thor's arrival.

"I am Thor, supreme commander of the Asgard fleet." Thor stated calmly. Over the many millennia of his contact with the more primitive members of the human race he had grown quite accustomed to those types of reactions from humans not accustomed to meeting with the Asgard race.

"Fleet! Demons have fleets!" Faith looked very worried and confused at the same time. Turning to look at Linda who she hoped would have the answers to explain this situation to her because she had no clue as to what the hell was going on but to her dismay she saw the same confusion spread across her watcher's face.

The answer came from Alexander Harris, the Spartan, who responded before the SGC personnel could get over their shock of how Slayer had reacted to Thor's appearance. "Thor isn't a demon; he's a member of an alien race known as the Asgard."

"Oh."

"So whatcha doing back here Thor, I would have thought you'd be back home long before now?" Jack asked trying to return the meeting back to some semblance of order.

"I have returned in order to determine if your people's leaders are prepared to begin the negotiations." Thor responded absently.

General Hammond fielded this one. "We should have a special negotiator arrive within the next few hours to begin the negotiations which are really a formality considering that according to the President we will accept the treaty with the Asgard."

"That is most relieving to hear General Hammond." Thor replied while he turned his gaze to the side of the table which contained a few humans who had reacted far differently than those in the employ of the SGC that he had encountered before. Jack having seen that Thor was curious about the others gave the introductions. "Uh this is Alexander Harris also known as 'Spartan' a self styled 'demon hunter' and Watcher, Slayer, and Carolyn and Joseph McNally."

"I did not expect to encounter demon hunters at Stargate Command." Thor replied resting his gaze on the armor that the one known as Spartan wore. It appeared to be far in advance of what he had seen of Human's technological capabilities.

Daniel was the one to pick up the tone in Thor's voice. From the way he said demon hunters, he acts like he's met them before. "Uh Thor, do you mean to tell us that you've spoken with demon hunters before?" He asked in shock.

"No, I have not met them before. I have merely been informed of their existence from tales passed down from the Asgard who helped the Ancients in their war with the demons who infested their homeworld many millennia ago."

That quickly put a crimp into the arguments that demons didn't exist. If the Asgard, currently one of the most powerful and knowledgeable races in existence and known to Earth knew of the existence of demons then it must be true. Major Carter's mantra was quickly shattered with this revelation but her keen mind was attempting to find some other possible explanation for the existence of demons but so far she wasn't able to come up with anything that was even remotely scientifically plausible.

"So now what?" Xander asked. He had placed nearly all of his cards on the table and it was now up to the SGC to determine how things went from there. Hopefully if they lived up to their reputation they would allow him and the others to leave in peace but if needed he could fight his way out of the facility, though the chances of taking causalities along the way were high especially for those amongst the group who had no training in combat situations namely Carolyn and Joseph the two that he had originally come to save.

"I will contact the president and determine a suitable course of action. If what you say is true about the threat these demons pose to mankind then it might be time for the US military to get involved." General Hammond began.

Xander cut in. "If you're thinking of actually using normal soldiers in the fight against demons, think again. Most demon races that are hostile to man are naturally stronger, more resilient and have more knowledge in the ways of magical and demonic artifacts. Using common everyday soldiers will do nothing more than increase the body count and if they're turned into vampires cause a lot of problems."

"Well that what do you suggest we do? I am certainly not going to sit by idle when I know of a threat to the security of the United States and for that matter to the very survival of the human race."

"If you're going to involve yourselves in the fight then you should at the very least use Special Forces or similarly trained units. They should at least be able to hold their own against demons for the most part."

"We'll take that under consideration and I will pass your recommendation along to the President and the Joint Chiefs." General Hammond said as he stood to head towards his office, presumably to place a call to the President of the United States. Xander sat back in his chair, still being careful to not fully place the weight of the armor on the chair knowing that it would snap like a twig under the weight and waited. Apparently this meeting was going into extra innings. With the possibility of involvement by the United States military in the war against demonkind it meant that a few things were going to have to change. He could no longer afford to operate merely from the shadows he would have to take a more open stance and at least attempt to coordinate his assaults on demon nests with the military units that would most likely be assigned to the hellmouth. If the government took his advice to heart then at least he would be working with the best of the best which would make it easier but there were still a lot of things that could go wrong and he still hadn't received any guarantee that he and the others would be let go, which was somewhat unsettling but hopefully that would be addressed once General Hammond returned.

101010

Coming to Cordelia instantly knew that something was drastically wrong. For one thing the last thing that she could remember was that she had been heading to the library to return an overdue book, a rarity in the Sunnydale high school library seeing as how its shelves were stuffed to the brim with books on demon races and ancient prophecies instead of books that any teenager would actually want to read, and the after that it all went dark. Shaking her head to clear in an attempt to get rid of the pain that was flaring from the back portion of her skull she looked around the room she found herself in and noticed two things that sent shivers of fear up her spine, one she was chained to a large stone table and the second, she was naked.

Struggling in terror Cordelia attempted to free herself from the chains that shackled her to the table but whoever had chained her up had done his job extremely well. There was barely any slack in them and even if there was she doubted that she would have been able to force her way free, it wasn't like she had the strength needed to break the iron chains anyway.

Hearing the sounds of footsteps coming closer she shut her eyes trying to pretend like she was asleep hoping that she could either catch her captors off guard or they would leave her alone if they thought she wasn't awake.

"Might as well open those eyes luv, I can hear your heart racing from here." Came a distinct British voice. Opening her eyes she stared in horror at the image of Spike standing in the open doorway in his trademark outfit. Standing beside him was Drusilla the insane vampire seer who was considered extremely dangerous according to the book she read on them in the library during one of the few research sessions she attended.

The two master vampires strode into the room and moved to flank Cordelia standing on either side of her while she struggled again in vain to find someway, anyway out of this room.

"Now that you're awake I think its time we had a little fun time together don't you?" Spike said as he let his eyes roam over her nude body.

Before she could even think of screaming or even pleading for her life she saw something that for a moment filled her with hope but was quickly snuffed out. Angel walked into the room and stood at the end of the stone table near her feet. In his hands was a fireplace poker that was glowing red hot at the tip.

"I think its time you screamed." Angelus said as he held the tip of the poker to the sole of her foot while she screamed in pain and attempted to move her foot away from the searing pain of the poker. He held it there till the flesh seemed to start to melt and char slightly.

"Don't pass out on us now; it's going to be a long day." Angelus laughed as he switched the poker to her other foot.


	11. Interlude: Poker Night

Poker Night (God help us!)

Written by Lord Anubis and Ash's Boomstick

Author's note: This story may not be to Ideal Stargate canon order as a result some of the parts may seem out of continuity, however this is all in fun and if is attached to the story it is based on then the story will be slipped in when and if needed.

Author's Note: Lord Anubis This story takes place outside of the Zeppo Halo universe canon for the moment, if at a later date I can work it into canon I will post a note relaying that information._  
_

_**Poker Night**_

Xander stared over at Jack O'Neill; Jack stared back watching the movements of the young Spartan. Beside either their erstwhile partners of Faith and Thor looked nervously towards the other two and back at each other, last of all Cortana and General Hammond merely looked at the combined members of the group wondering who would break first.

"Alright Jack, raise you ten."

"Ha, ten and thirty more."

"Hit me, three cards."

Three cards sped toward the young man each plucked out of the air before they landed on the table, sorting his hand he watched as Jack sorted himself two more. Jack's poker face was a stony as Xander's own, out of the corner of his eye the Spartan could see the reactions of the other members of the poker night watching intently.

"Alright Jack, show them."

"Full House, Aces over tens, heh."

"Sorry Jack, straight Flush."

O'Neill stared at the cards, that damn ace he couldn't get was already in the kid's hand. There was only one thing he could say about that.

"Bastard."

"All fair in love and cards Jack."

"Cheating Bastard."

"You dealt the cards Colonel." Hammond butted in, "There's nothing that Mister Harris could have done to cheat in that game."

"Alright ante up people, next round."

"What's the ante O'Neill?"

"Twenty Bucks, aces are wild."

One hundred and twenty dollars hit the table as the six players on the table placed bids; Cortana's cards placed on a scrabble like holder for her to see the cards her dollar notes in a small stack opposite the cards.

"Alright." The AI said, "Raise the table ten dollars."

"See the ten, Raise twenty." Thor said, "O'Neill?"

"See that, raise another ten."

"I'm in up twenty," Hammond continued finally ending the cycle with Xander.

"Alright up all your bets and raise fifty."

"Rich picking Harris?" O'Neill said.

"Just know what I'm good with Colonel."

"Call your fifty and raise you fifty."

"Called."

The entire table anted up to Jack's bet and beyond, more cash entered the pot as Xander and Jack attempted to ride roughshod over each other. One by one the others began to slowly run out of funds, Thor already badly off with Earth money was close to out while Hammond was already down to his last notes.

Watching the game wind up Thor was surprised to see a long thick tube entering O'Neill's mouth as well as the archaic wooden match that lit its tip.

"O'Neill?"

"Thor?"

"What is that in your mouth?"

"This my Asgard friend is what we call a Cuban cigar."

"A Cigar?"

"A rolling of numerous fine tobacco leaves coiled and sealed, once set alight the smoke is inhaled into the lungs."

"And this is pleasurable?"

"Once you get used to it."

"It's also a disgusting and addictive substance that contains a number of harmful carcinogens." Cortana piped up, "Plus the type of cigar that the Colonel has there is highly illegal."

"So what is the pleasure of this object?"

"None that I know of." Xander said "but others may disagree."

"Cubans are wicked shit." Faith disagreed, "Damn good stuff."

"You want to try one Thor?" O'Neill offered.

"Colonel!" Hammond said.

"He'll be fine General; it's only the one cigar."

"It's your choice Thor."

"Then I shall try this cigar."

Cutting the end off of one of the cigars Jack set up another of his valued Cubans for his friend, the lit cigar was passed to the small grey alien. Jack inhaled his own Cuban showing Thor how to smoke it, taking a large lungful he puffed out a series of smoke rings showing off to the rest of the table.

Taking his cue from the Tau'ri human Thor inhaled the smoke deeply into his lungs. Followed by the immediate reproduction of said smoke rings.

"How the hell?" Faith said in surprise.

"Yes this is rather pleasant."

"How the Hell?"

"You said that already Faith." Cortana said. "Although I am surprised that Asgard Anatomy is so predisposed to tobacco smoke, we believed you would be choking and coughing Commander."

"On the contrary Cortana this is quite a pleasant experience. It is unlike anything available to the Asgard on Othalla, General Hammond If possible I wish to make some form of trade for some of these 'Cubans' I believe the Asgard Race will benefit from them."

"Umm, I will see what I can do Thor."

"Guys back to the game?" Xander asked.

"Of course, my apologies." The small Asgard replied.

"Fifty."

"Raise Fifty.

"Raise Hundred"

"Raise Hundred"

"Call."

"Raise sixty." Cortana said.

"I'll call on that."

As the game continued the pots changed hands with regularity no one person leaving the game, the hours passed as the biggest pot began to take shape. No one would leave the match convinced that they would be the winner.

"Where the hell's the Pizza?" Faith Asked.

"We are several dozen floors below the surface Faith, have patience."

"We could have had it in minutes if the grey one here had allowed us to use his beaming thing."

Thor sat in his high chair puffing away at the second of his Cuban cigars when Faith spoke, he pulled the cigar from his mouth and responded saying that the use of the Transporters was not for frivolous use. Something that Faith shot back with her own opinion about Thor's use of the transporter.

"Just calm down Faith." Xander pulled her back into her chair, "It'll be here soon enough."

"Damned grey Alien….." she grumbled as she sat down in her chair.

"Ok, who's got the drinks?"

"In the cupboard." Jack Said.

"In the cupboard?" Xander asked, "Damn all we need warm coke and beer."

As the cupboard door opened a second one attached to the back opened with it, inside was a small but well stocked mini fridge taking up the majority of the space, closing the door Xander looked back.

"Fell for that one huh?" He said opening it again and passing the adults beer and taking a few cans of coke for himself and Faith, he paused realising he didn't know what to give the small Asgard. There was no bottled water and really wasn't sure whether to give the alien beer or not.

Deciding against it he picked up a third coke and carried them to the table, one to Faith, one to him and one to Faith the third he opened and placed in front of the little guy.

"Sorry Thor, no water or anything."

"That is quite alright Mr Harris, this beverage will do. What is it called?"

"This is Coke Thor." Xander replied, "A sugar and caffeine heavy carbonated drink, I'm not sure what effect it will have on Asgard biology though."

"I doubt it will cause me much harm."

_**Six minutes later.**_

"Are his eyelids supposed to be doing that?" Faith asked Jack.

"I've never seen him like that, how much of that can did he have?"

"About a third."

"A third?"

"Yeah now he's twitching like crazy."

"So that's Cigars yes, Coke No."

_**Twenty minutes later**_

"Thor buddy are you alright."

"I'mfineO'Neillshallwecontinuewiththegame?"

"Whoa slow down little guy."

"I'masslowasicanbeunderthecircumstances."

"It's alright Jack, he's just saying he'll be okay and we should continue with the game."

"You understood that?"

"Interesting childhood."

"Alright let's get this on the road."

"Whose call is it?" Asked Faith

"Cortana's." Jack said picking up his own cards. "Hey who ate all the Sausage Pizza?"

"Same place the cheese and Pepperoni ones went." Cortana said.

"Harris, that was my Pizza."

"You snooze you lose jack."

"How the hell the two of you can eat so many of those damn things I don't know, leave the rest of us the Hawaiian."

"Alright alright, raise twenty."

"Ten." Came from Faith.

"See and raise… Crap."

"What's wrong Cortana/" Xander Said.

"I'm out of money."

"Sorry can't help you there."

"Anyone?" She said meekly, no one spoke up. "Right in that case I'll put in what I can, specs for the Covenant plasma rifle."

The entire group looked up at the AI in shock, even Thor had seemed to calm down at the very thought that he could get hold of the technology that was apparently inside Cortana's very matrix. Each blinked almost in unison until Xander almost exploded at her offer.

"Are you crazy? You can't give Covvie tech to this planet; they aren't nearly ready of this."

"I have nothing else left to offer."

"But the forerunner and covvie info?"

"It's a good collateral."

"I'll split my money with you keep you in the game."

"Not so fast Harris." Jack said, "If the lady wants to share her technology then we should let her, I'll see the bet and raise you a full combat team for your hunting."

"Colonel O'Neill." Hammond boomed, "You do not have that authority."

"I do if its SG1 sir, I'm offering SG1 for one week every two month to help out in Sunnydale."

Hammond sighed, "I'll see that and raise you a rotating combat team from one of the offworld sites."

Faith nodded and put in her own money as had everyone else, "One week in every six weeks training under Jack and working with the teams off world."

Xander couldn't believe what was happening, he looked at them and threw his money in. "Full access to the MJOLNIR's shielding systems."

"I wager a full refit of your Prometheus vessel's weapons and propulsion to Asgard norms."

Time and again the bets were raised by all sides, information, technology, equipment and resources were bounded about on the table as the pot grew to enormous proportions.

"Rapid ship construction equipment."

"DNA resquencing."

"Armour generation techniques."

"Combat Training."

"North Alaska."

"COLONEL O'NEILL."

"Sorry Sir."

"Asgard ground defence cannons."

"Covenant Ship weapons."

"UNSC combat techniques."

"An full number of unfilled SG Team positions."

"An O'Neill class Battleship."

The room settled into silence with the exception of a coughing Jack O'Neill who had begun coughing up his beer, the little Grey alien sat totally serene staring at the assembled throng his eyelids still shuttering from the coke he had been drinking he had obviously taken another drink and was suffering from the after effects

"An O'Neill?" Xander asked, "That is?"

"An O'Neill is the largest and most powerful warship in the three known galaxies Mr Harris." Hammond answered, "Even Anubis' ships fear them in combat, one O'Neill accompanied by our ships could easily defend this planet for the foreseeable future."

"And he's just put one in the Pot and called all our bets?"

"Yes he has."

"Anyone have anything else to add?" Jack asked.

None of the players said anything; the pot was as high as any of them could possibly dream of. Technologies, land, money, even ships were now at their disposal with each of the players still in the game itself.

"Alright dealer shows hand." Hammond Said. "Full house, Sevens and Sixes."

"Sorry old man." Faith Said. "Four of a Kind, fives."

Cortana, "Damn it, Full house eights and jacks."

Xander, "Sorry Guys, Straight Flush Jack to seven."

"Than I am sorry Xander Harris, this is a straight flush, Kings to Nine."

"Shit."

"I believe that the pot is mine."

"Sorry Thor old buddy I think mine is higher."

Jack O'Neill dropped his cards, one ace, then two, three and four. Four aces and a final card. He dropped the card, it was a three.

A wild card.

Five of a Kind: Aces

"Son of a BITCH." Screamed Xander. "Cheating bastard."

The room erupted as the deck was checked for markings or any form of tampering, none was found and they all realised that they were indebted to Jack O'Neill one and all and what was more he knew about it.

"This should be fun." Jack Said, "Another game people? Just for fun this time."

"I want my armour back when your done with it Jack." Xander Said, "No letting the NID getting their hands on it."

"Shouldn't need to, although I'm going to waive the assassinate Kinsey offer from the pile thanks."

"I'll do that anyway if I get the chance." Xander Said.

"Hmm, tell you what anyone who gets a better hand than me gets their money back but nothing else and trust me I'll remember everything that was in the pot."

The cards were dealt to the six players by Jack, no bets were put forward but the feeling was one of defeat even if they won the money back from the Air force officer, even Thor looked down his third cigar left to burn in its ashtray.

"I need to contact one of our ships to come and retrieve me, thank you for the game O'Neill."

"There's no need to leave yet little buddy."

"I have nothing else left to play for and I do need to find a way home, thank you all."

With a slight bow the small Asgard lurched through the door cigar in one hand and coke in the other, his slightly off kilter appearance a surprise to the members of the SGC that passed him.

"Is it me or did he look like he was gonna chuck up?" Faith Asked.

"Yeah, hope he'll be alright."

"All right so, show your hands." Jack said.

_**Next Morning**_

_**10am**_

"How did so much of that stuff come out of such a small guy?" Xander asked rhetorically.

"Dunno but it was a hell of a mess." Faith responded.

"Morning Jack." Xander watched the insufferably smug O'Neill lead a surprised looking SG1 into the Mess hall, "I assume you've told them all about your windfall last night?"

"Yep, and after only paying back you and Hammond the money I promised, I came out very well off and with a lot of IOUs in my pocket. Now we have all kinds of fun stuff to go through, I had to drag Carter out for breakfast before she started to pick apart the info we got from Cortana."

"Nice, I kinda felt bad for Thor though that was his ship he lost and they need all they can get."

"Yeah I know, but after we're through with it and the stuff from Cortana and the Covenant info it should be able to kick so much ass that it'll make up for losing one ship. Which reminds me, this came in this morning from a Tok'ra operative, apparently Thor needed to blow off some steam."

Jack handed a file over to the young Spartan who perused the typed pages inside, he looked up at Jack who nodded and passed it to Faith. Not quite understanding she asked the first question on her mind.

"Who was Ba'al?"


	12. Chapter 11

Author's Notes: Sorry about the amount of time between updates. I'll try to write them faster but I just wanted to give you all fair warning that I do start my schooling again in september so it comes first before writing for fun. I'll try to continue writing through the school year for recreation if I have time but I make no promises.

Now as to the Poker Night chapter that preceded this one. Those of you who didn't bother to read the note that I left and then sent me a nasty email saying that it didn't go with canon should go back and read the note explaining that it was merely an interlude of a possible element that might be included as canon later on down the road but it wasn't a part of the Zeppo Halo universe yet.

Reread that note before commenting please, hell read all my author notes before making comments. It might save you and me some grief, thank you. Now as always I'll read every single review and take them all seriously but please can you say something other than Update Now! that doesn't give me any hints as to how to improve the story or my writing. Now on with the story since I'm sure you're all sick of reading this note if you even read it in the first place.

Chapter 11.

Supreme Commander Thor sat in his chair at stargate command and watched the reactions of the few humans that he had chosen to observe more closely since their planets emergence on the galactic and intergalactic stage. These humans were a very interesting study; they seemed to accept all races as equals not as inferiors or superiors but equals who were merely different in appearance. A most refreshing change from the other humans who had reached the point where they were able to defend themselves from Goa'uld oppression, while they had advanced technologically it had stunted their open-mindedness to new or different things.

Of course now those same humans were being exposed to a horror that had roamed their homeworld before their species had even achieved sentience and to the idea that there were humans who spent their entire existence dedicated to fighting those same horrors.

Turning his attention back towards the self professed demon hunters of the group Thor wondered how they had become aware of who he was and also how they came to be within the SGC. From their reactions the last few times he had visited the facility it was supposed to be the most secure of their facilities on their homeworld.

Activating a control on the arm of his chair Thor accessed the powerful sensors on his flagship the Beliskner to scan the SGC. Almost as soon as he entered the command the information flowed over a small data readout built into the other armrest. The artificial life form that he had detected on one of his previous visits to Earth was present in the very same room as himself. Most intriguing, he thought as he casually observed the occupants of the room. The most likely to be the artificial life form was the young human looking male in the advanced black armor. At first glance he appeared human, but he could just as likely be a human form construct to mimic the outer appearance of a human. Deciding to keep the information to himself for the time being Thor sat back to watch the interactions between the two groups, it would be helpful in his quest to better understand humanity as a whole to observe them.

General Hammond was busy explaining the current situation to the President and the Joint Chiefs via video teleconferencing from his office adjacent to the main briefing room. The dedicated video link being part of the new series upgrades that were still continuing to happen throughout the base.

Colonel O'Neill sat back in his chair and let his gaze slowly move down the table taking in all of the demon hunters and civilians that had he had brought back to the base. "So, why did you start your little crusade against demons?" He asked not really expecting an honest answer but hoping for something to shed some light on this Harris character. So far he seemed to be the most open and honest about who and what he was.

"Nearly two years ago I learned about demons and vampires, on that same night they killed a friend of mine who I considered a brother in all ways save blood. Ever since that night I have fought them everywhere I could find them." Xander replied honestly. Even today it pained him to think of that night when he had seen Jessie die on the end of the stake he held in his hands. His mind quickly flashed back to that fateful night where he had confronted the demon inhabited body of his friend for the briefest of moments he was sure he saw gratitude shining out the eyes of his dead friend before the vampire that inhabited his body turned to dust.

Carolyn and Joseph McNally both looked sadly down at their friend at the mention of Jessie.

O'Neill tilted his head in their direction and looked expectedly at Xander.

"His name was Jessie McNally, her brother and his son." Xander offered in reply.

O'Neill merely nodded in reply. He knew what it felt like to lose those close to you, even more so what it felt like to lose a son. Once again the room fell into silence, neither side really looking like it felt ready to talk to the other. The boredom of the room was broken when an airman came in to talk to Colonel O'Neill.

"Colonel, the next group is ready to head out to the Alpha Site. Just need your orders for them to disembark, sir." Airman Stirling stated as he kept himself from starting at the unmistakable form of the Asgard sitting at one end of the table.

"Good, tell them to prepare to leave within the next five minutes. I'll get Hammond up to speed. Dismissed." O'Neill replied as he walked over to Hammond's office and rapped sharply on the door.

"What's the Alpha site?" Jacob asked as he too stood and walked over.

"For now that's on a need to know basis and you don't need to know."

"Come!" Entering the office he found General Hammond sitting at his desk facing the video hookup.

"Sir, sorry to interrupt but the next group is ready to deploy to the Alpha site. Also Jacob was curious to what the Alpha site is; we may have a problem down the road with that."

Before General Hammond could respond to that one of the Joint Chiefs spoke up. "As of right now, the information that we pass onto the Tok'ra is going to be heavily edited. While we do appreciate their assistance in taking care of the Seth problem we as yet do not fully trust them. Also Jacob Carter's rank and access codes are hereby rescinded; he will no longer have access to classified information until such time as that he can prove he has not been compromised by the Tok'ra symbiote that he now carries."

Both General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill while not totally agreeing with the stance on Jacob Carter, they did understand the sense in limiting his ability to access information from classified sources here on Earth. Both nodded their agreement with the orders being issued. "As to the other matter about your little encounter with the demon hunters. This administration has been well aware of the existence of demons and the hunters for quite some time, you are hereby ordered to release them from the SGC at the earliest possible time. Under no circumstances are you to detain them or attempt to follow them after they have left the complex."

"Sir, I'm not sure I'm following you here. You want us to just let them waltz on out of here? What about the security breaches over at the NID, one of them has detailed information on the Gate itself for crying out loud!" Jack protested.

"The Spartan's activities are well known and documented. Right now it's better to have him as an arm's length ally than to try and interfere in his operations. Not to mention he's doing a damn fine job of keeping the people in his area safe from demon kind. We're looking over the possibility of sending troops to his hometown to set up a permanent demon eradication force that could take over for him at a later date if something should happen to him in the future. But for right now those plans are still on the drawing board."

"Now as I said before you are to let them leave and not hamper them in anyway." While the joint Chiefs were merely an advisory board to the President on the state of affairs happening within the military since he could be seen nodding his agreement in the background it made the suggestions by the Joint Chiefs into actual orders.

"Understood sir. Is there anything else we should know about? Do we pass along the information that we could help set up a Special Forces unit in his hometown?" Colonel O'Neill asked before he could stop himself. While he was still having a bit of trouble understanding that the existence of demons he was firmly in the camp that the ones that were hostile to mankind should be wiped out as quickly as possible.

"Let him know that's it's a possibility and that if he requires help he can always count on us to back him up. While they're will most likely be strings attached to whatever offers we send him his way there will be none attached to our granting him backup if it's needed." "Understood sir." "Good, now to the Alpha site team. We're going to be increasing the amount of equipment being funneled through the SGC by nearly two hundred percent over the next few weeks. It is imperative that the Alpha site become fully operational as soon as humanely possible."

General Hammond was startled. "Sir, I don't know if we're going to be able to accommodate that much material being moved with our current operations under weigh. It would force us to dedicate the gate itself to being used primarily for the Alpha site for approximately eight hours out of everyday, which will place a heavy strain on the power grid of the base."

"Unavoidable George, Alpha must become fully independent of Earth as soon as possible. While we do understand that the Asgard presence within the solar system will pretty much guarantee the safety of Earth for the time being we don't know for certain how long the Goa'uld will refrain from attacking directly in spite of the Asgard. Especially considering that the Asgard are facing a threat in their own galaxy that from what you've told me makes the vast majority of their military forces most likely unavailable to respond to a threat to Earth."

"We'll do our best, though I did want clarification on one point of the orders you sent me regarding Alpha. Are we to transfer day to day normal operations to Alpha and leave Earth as merely another way point for returning teams to avoid letting the Goa'uld from knowing of the stargate address to the alpha site?"

"Primary research and construction of all new technologies will be handled at the alpha site along with the housing of all new teams. Also it will be the primary training facility for those teams as well, we want to reduce the risk to Earth as much as possible and this seems the most likely way to do so. This time tomorrow there will be supplies transferred from Area 51 arriving along with the research teams of the Prometheus project, they are to have priority clearance to be sent to the Alpha site as soon as possible."

"Understood sir." General Hammond responded already thinking of all the changes that would need to take place within the SGC to facilitate the transfer of all the equipment and raw materials that would soon be arriving. Not to mention that a sizeable portion of the staff would have to begin working on their cover stories for their families who hadn't been cleared to accompany them to the alpha site yet.

"If there's nothing more gentlemen I think we'll wrap this up. Since we were unable to actually find a negotiator with the necessary security clearances we're going to let Dr Jackson conduct the negotiations with the Asgard based on his previous experiences with them. Tell him that we would like a formalized treaty up here in Washington as soon as possible and to take into account the need for the Asgard presence within the solar system to remain as secretive as possible."

"Yes sir, I'll make sure he understands that." Almost as soon as General Hammond had finished answering the video link was shutoff showing the presidential seal on the screen for a few seconds before fading to black.

"Well that should make Danny boy's day." Jack commented.

"True. Tell Airman Stirling to let the next wave deploy. What's in this wave anyway?" General Hammond asked. With nearly a full regiment deployed to Alpha Site already and with all the day-to-day operations of the SGC he hadn't been able to see the TOE for this group yet.

"This should be the first group of families and a few dozen armored vehicles sir. Not to mention basic supplies, construction material for prefab buildings, and a few hundred tons of munitions."

"Good."

101010

Xander stood from his place at the table. He was getting quite bored just sitting around doing nothing while politicians were deciding his fate. He understood the need to one day include the United States military forces in the fight against demon kind, he just hadn't planed on bringing them in so soon and not in this way. Especially if they just used the regular joe grunt instead of the SF then they wouldn't stand a chance against demons. Reaching down he picked up his helmet and doffed it so he could speak to Cortana in private. While the neural link that he shared with her was great for private conversations he still wanted to be able to see the information that she could display on his helmets HUD.

The other members of SG-1 who were still in the room looked a little uneasy as he reconnected the helmet to his armor, especially since once it was connected for a split second there was a sharp crack as an visible energy field surrounded his body.

"Cortana, any ideas or suggestions. By the way, where the hell is my hummer? You didn't leave it back in Seattle did you?" Xander demanded.

"It's sitting in the parking lot of the nearest mall where it won't be noticed. If its needed it can be here within twelve minutes, more than enough time since it'll take at least that long to get to the surface and that's assuming we're allowed to leave in peace." Cortana replied. Annoyed at the sheer thought that she would forget to bring the hummer with them to Colorado.

"Good, I want it ready if we have to get out of here in a hurry. Also remind me to have a few more of those built as soon as possible. It looks like we might be expanding our operations far beyond what I had planned for the moment. Is there anyone back home that's in the know about demons that we could tap for extra manpower without grabbing anyone from Buffy's group?" Xander asked. Though he refused to admit, even to himself, it hurt to know that two of the people that he once counted as his closest friends were now in a group that he would barely acknowledge the existence of.

Cortana began running the names of all the known people in Sunnydale who knew about demons through simulations to determine who was the best candidate to tap. "We have a few choices, there seem to be quite a few people in your class who know about demons but not all of them are suitable for our needs or wouldn't crack under the pressure. I suggest Amy Madison; she is a natural witch with a sufficient understanding of magic. Not to mention she most likely has access to a small library of books that we could add to our database. The next logical choice would be Jonathan Levinson, while he doesn't seem to be on the outside very strong or a capable fighter the files that I can access at the moment from here indicate that he does know about the demon underworld, his skills would be an asset that we could use."

"Hmm, I'll ask Amy we could always use another witch to add another layer to the magical defenses on Alpha Base. Does she have any other skills beside that? Also how far along are we on production of Helljumper armor and equipment?"

"As I said it takes time to build the necessary infrastructure to produce that equipment, probably another two weeks before I can begin actually production." "Two weeks is too long, especially if I'm about to start recruiting people." Xander said frustrated with the inherent delays in getting the needed weapons and armor that were required to keep people alive in this war.

"Deal with it, I can't change the laws of physics anymore than you can. Now if you're finished ranting like a loon about things well outside your ability to control are you prepared to listen to what I found in the SGC mainframe?"

"I could have sworn I told you to stay out of their mainframe, we're not exactly in the position to be caught doing anything wrong right now."

"Ya you told me to, I just didn't listen. Besides its not like there is a single human on this planet with the ability to actually track me, you worry too much. Now are you ready to listen to what I found or not?"

"Fine." Xander sighed. "Apparently the Goa'uld pose enough of a threat that the administration is taking steps to ensure the continued survival of the species quite seriously. Construction of an off-world colony is already under weigh with over two thousand military personnel already on sight, families of those same soldiers are slated to join them along with another detachment of soldiers."

"Well that is interesting." Xander thought. His musings were cut short when Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond rejoined the meeting.

"Mr. Harris, I wanted to inform you that you and your group are free to leave at anytime. The President and Joint Chiefs already know about the demonic threat and are currently taking steps to curtail it. They also wanted me to pass along a message, if at anytime in the future you require assistance you can summon it from the United States military, there will be no strings attached. In the future they will most likely be approaching you with an offer, which will contain strings, but there will be none on requests for manpower by you if it's truly needed. I gathered from their tone that they're not willing to risk the security of the world by irritating you when you need help the most." Hammond said as if he were addressing a soldier under his command.

"Call me Xander, and tell them thanks for the offer. I'll probably take them up on that at some point down the road."

"I'll pass that along to the Joint Chiefs." General Hammond responded. It seemed that the Joint Chiefs were correct in their assessment of the Spartan.

"Uh, I was wondering if my 'group' could have a few minutes to discuss things privately before we continue this meeting?" Xander questioned, privately amused over the assumption that he was the one in charge of this motley bunch. He noticed that he was getting some not so subtle glares from the two who were definitely not under his command.

"As you wish, we also have a few things that need to be taken care of. Airman! Escort them to one of the VIP lounges." Hammond barked. Airman Stirling popped into the briefing room and snapped off a salute before leading the group out of the room and down the hall toward one of the least used rooms on the base. It was a rare occurrence when a foreign dignitary remained on base for more than a few hours. Once inside the room the Airman said that he would be outside if they needed anything.

Before anyone could speak Xander held up a single figure to where they assumed his mouth would be behind the faceshield. "Cortana, disable any bugs they have in here."

"Done. I'm using a ultrahigh frequency white noise broadcast beyond the reach of a human ear, even one augmented like yours and simultaneously real time filtering program within their mainframe. They won't get anything from those bugs though even so you better not talk about anything to important, simple recorders that aren't transmitting might still be able to pick up fragments." Cortana answered as she disabled all the bugs in the room. She would have to remember to leave a note in the SGC mainframe about the existence of said bugs; it wasn't nice to spy on your guests. Not to mention it was a violation of most agreements between the US and various nations around the world to bug a room specifically created for the use by foreign dignitaries, this was probably doubly true for those rooms used by people from off world.

"Ok we can talk freely." Xander said as he took his helmet off again. Before anyone could say anything Faith exploded. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, you actually think you're the one in charge here?"

"I am in command. You have no information that is relevant or noteworthy about this facility, I do, that alone makes me the most able to talk to them without revealing anything that they're not ready to know yet." Xander replied.

"Faith, calm down." Linda said soothingly. She knew that the only reason they were being allowed to leave was most likely because of him and she for one wasn't willing to jeopardize that. Not to mention he was the hunter who was currently the only thing keeping the hellmouth safe and when they all finally got there they would have to work with him, best not to make an enemy of him.

"No, I'm not going to let him dictate what I can and cannot do."

"You don't have a choice, until they let us out of this mountain you are under my command and you will follow my orders." Xander replied. He hadn't meant to let things escalate to this point but he wasn't willing to let the government know about the existence of Slayer's just yet. The sheer number of things that would happen to her if organizations like the NID found out about her were enough to give even him nightmares.

"Faith, he's right. Till we get out of here and to the hellmouth we should at least try to be civil." Linda consoled trying to keep her slayer from attacking the Spartan Faith snorted. "Fine, but I don't have to like it.'

"No one asked you to like it Slayer. Now down to business, what levels of information are you willing to give to the US government. They'll most likely already know about the hellmouth in Sunnydale so you'll have to expect at least a few intelligence operatives are already active in the town. If you want to keep the existence of the slayer hidden from them you might have a few problems operating in secrecy in Sunnydale." Xander explained. He didn't want them going into this situation in the dark about the consequences or hide any other information from them.

"I really don't know, the Council has never contemplated this level of cooperation before. We've always preferred to stay as far as we can outside the purview of governments."

"Fine, for now we won't reveal the fact of what a Slayer is but they will eventually catch on, you have to plan for that. You can work out of my base of operations in Sunnydale; the external defenses will keep it safer than any other facility in town. Since most of the homes are enspelled to remove most of the natural defenses that come with the soul barrier preventing vampires access you'll be safer there, not to mention you'll have access to my database which is growing quite quickly." Xander offered. He didn't have room for both of them in Alpha base immediately but he was the owner of all the surrounding warehouses in the block, it wouldn't be too difficult to expand into one of them and create the needed defenses. Cortana most likely had enough spare equipment around to get it up and running within a week.

"Thank you for the kind offer, but we already have a place to stay in Sunnydale." Linda replied not fully trusting his reasons for wanting them to be staying with him.

"Your choice but I'll set up a place for you in my area just the same in case you change your mind."

101010

After the demon hunters had left General Hammond motioned for everyone to remain behind. "Jacob, the President and Joint Chiefs wanted for me to be the one to inform you. As of this moment your access codes and rank of General are hereby rescinded."

"What! Why would they do that?" Jacob roared. To think that his own government would do this to him. The rest of SG-1 was equally as floored, Colonel O'Neill knew it was coming since he had been there when the orders came through but the rest of his team hadn't even considered the possibility of it happening.

"Their concerned about your split loyalties and frankly I agree with them."

"What split loyalties, I gave an oath to protect the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic and I've done nothing to violate that oath!"

O'Neill jumped in before Carter could go too much further with his rant defending himself. "Yes, you gave that oath but Selmac didn't. If anything he has his own oath to the Tok'ra and I'll ask you this if it came down to it who would you put first. The Tok'ra or Earth?"

Silence reigned in the room. Jack repeated his question slowly. "The Earth or the Tok'ra Jacob it's one or the other, who would you put first?"

"That's an impossible question for someone like me and you damn well know it." Jacob snarled in reply.

"That's exactly what were talking about, that's why your codes have been deleted."

"Jacob." Hammond interrupted. "The President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and myself have been over this several times. Effective immediately your commission is retired and your access codes have been locked out of every system in the United States. I'm sorry Jacob, I really am."

"So am I George, so I am." Jacob whispered as he sat back down in his seat only now fully understanding what it had cost him when he had agreed to become a host to a Tok'ra. Over the loudspeaker came a loud voice instantly commanding everyone's attention throughout the base.

"Attention all personnel, Alpha Site departure group Delta Six please prepare to depart." The blast door immediately began to drop over the briefing room windows to prevent anyone in the room, namely Jacob, since he was the only party in the facility aside from the demon hunters who wasn't cleared to see the address being dialed by the gate.

"George, what's going on here? What's this Alpha site?"

"I'm sorry Jacob, its classified."

Down in the gate room the doors were opening to admit a veritable flood of soldiers and civilians loaded down with packs full of personal effects that they would have to carry with themselves to the Alpha site. Once the wormhole had established itself the blast door receded upwards to let those in the control room and briefing room upstairs watch as through a side door in the newly lengthened embarkation room a armored personnel carrier carefully nudged its way into the room before trudging up the ramp into the gate. All in all nearly two dozen APC's transited through the gate before the assembled soldiers began to march, four abreast, up the ramp following them.

From the recess' of former General Jacob Carter's mind Selmac watched as a continual stream of people marched into the gate room and up through the stargate to an unknown destination. It was a terrifying experience to see so many armed soldiers, hundreds of them, were marching in virtual lockstep carrying a variety of ordnance with them as they moved. From their mutual vantage point Carter was able to see into the room off to the left side of the gate room many more vehicles waited to enter, his mind easily cataloging them as he identified them as various tanks, APC's, munitions trucks, hummer's, backhoe's, tractors and others that he wasn't able to get a clear look at. The United States was finally mobilizing its military might to use against the System Lords and he knew in the back of his mind that it wouldn't be enough, Earth was just too primitive to pose a serious threat to the System Lords, only the Tok'ra could ever succeed in taking down the System Lords and it would take many centuries of destabilizing them before they were ready to do so.

1010

Sunnydale.

Jenny Calendar was fuming; her rental car had just died on her as she was driving into the warehouse district of Sunnydale on her way back to Alpha base. Carefully putting all of her stuff into her small carryon Jenny got out of the car and gave it a swift kick for good measure. 'First thing I do when Xander gets back is demand a new car. It's not fair that he gets to ride around in a armored hummer while I have to keep that piece of junk oldsmobile.' She had decided to leave the car at Alpha base when she flew out to visit her relatives over in Europe. Her reasoning had been that she didn't want to pay the outrageous fees that airports charged for keeping your car in the parking lots for extended periods of time, not to mention that a lot of thieves stole cars from those same lots simply because the owner wasn't going to be around for a few days at the least to file a police report.

"Oh well might as well hoof it, only two blocks." Jenny muttered to herself as she began walking down the pitch-black streets towards her home. It had been a strange couple months living with Xander, at times he could be so sweet and at other times she wanted to kill him for the stunts he pulled.

A sound from a nearby alley shattered her thoughts and brought her back to the present and made her realize just how dark it was outside. The lights along the street should have been lit up but they were all out. Her keen eyes quickly sought out the reasons why and she saw that they had all be broken.

Fumbling in her pocket for the remote that Xander had given her before she left for Europe she found it and pressed the button on it. Immediately dozens of lights slammed on from the area surrounding Alpha flooding the immediate vicinity around the base with enough light to drive away all the shadows, giving an illusion of an island of safety sitting in the middle of the shadows.

Walking quickly down the street she wanted to get to that island of safety as soon as she could. Another noise from behind alerted her to the fact that she was being followed. Not stopping Jenny just upped her pace a bit while turning to look over her shoulder. The sight that she saw nearly made her trip in shock. Angelus stood there flanked by two of his childer Spike and Drusilla, behind them was a veritable army of vampires.

Angelus kept moving forward a slow pace as he followed Jenny towards what he assumed to be the whelp's base. It would be a pleasure to rip that arrogant child's neck apart with his two hands. As Jenny broke into a run he followed at a simple ground-eating trot with his followers keeping pace behind him. Calling out in an attempt to put Jenny off her guard. "Jenny, don't run. It makes all the meat too rough."

Desperately reaching for the remote in her pocket again Jenny tried to keep ahead of the pack of Vampires racing after her. She knew that they weren't really trying to catch her since a normal fledgling vampire would be able to outrun her any day of the week and a master of Angelus's caliber should have been able to grab her before she even knew he was there but since Angelus was so arrogant he had alerted her to his presence merely to frighten her. Grabbing the remote she pressed the panic button.

Inside Alpha a clone copy of Cortana was happily working away in the dark recesses of the base. Equipment and technology was being upgraded as quickly as she could fabricate the needed equipment and process the raw materials that were off loaded almost weekly by the group of truckers that were employed by Xander and Cortana for just that reason. Most of them were unaware of what exactly was being built with the stuff they hauled to the base but a few of them had been brought into the know simply because it was easier to keep a secret with a few people understanding the ramifications of what was happening inside the facility.

Not to mention the truckers themselves that had been granted this knowledge were happy as clams since along with being brought into the know Cortana had set up a small upgrade facility for them where she would overhaul their trucks to armor and make them more capable of hauling some of the more delicate pieces of technology out of Alpha to the other locations spread across the country.

When the panic button was pushed on the remote access system that Jenny was given when she moved into Alpha activated in her systems she immediately shunted all her processing power to investigating the situation. Since the remote also came with a miniature GPS locater she was able to locate it rather quickly and what she found when she brought the base's sensors online shocked her. Jenny Calendar was only about fifty meters away from the base and closing rapidly but behind her was approximately thirty-two vampires. They showed up quite nicely on infrared scanners since they had a body temperature only slight elevated above room temperature. Activating the door controls she opened the main door directly in front of Jenny's path to allow her easier access to the base and then she switched on the primary anti-vampire defenses that Xander had insisted on building.

Jenny raced down the road. She was so close to the base and she could see the door opening for her.

Angelus and his gang of vampires were now running trying to catch her before she could make it into the base. But what they didn't realize was that those lights that had activated were now being supplemented by high intensity ultraviolet bulbs that were now activating, making the area around the base a virtual sun light zone preventing any vampire from entering. Sprinklers that were attached to the lamp poles that were spaced throughout the large lot surrounding the warehouse snapped on flooding the vicinity with holy water spraying in all directions.

The master vampires in the group were old enough to be able to withstand the effects of holy water long enough to get themselves clear. But the minions and other younger vamps were incapacitated by the holy water and were easy targets for the automatic defenses that tore into them from various hard points on the roof of Alpha. Shredder rounds tore the vampires apart and a few dozen auto loader crossbows fired bolts directly through the vampires who were writhing on the ground in agony. The lamp poles themselves had all been inlayed with crosses and other holy symbols blessed by the local clergy, well those who weren't corrupt had blessed them, giving off an aura that prevented the vampires from trying to hide behind the poles in an attempt to get away from the defenses that were ripping through them.

Making it into the safety of the base Jenny felt the rumble of the heavy doors as they began to close sealing her inside away from the demons that had been chasing her. The clone copy immediately projected itself in the holographic chamber built into the main control console. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine just out of breath." Jenny gasped as she tried to catch her breath. She wasn't as in shape as she thought she was. 'Maybe its time to take Xander up on his offer of training.'

From outside Jenny could still hear the screams and curses coming from the dying vampires as they lay on the pavement outside the base. Over those same screams she heard Angelus yell. "I'll get you yet you Kalderash bitch, don't think you can hide in there forever from me."

"Give me an uplink to Xander immediately, he needs to know that Angelus has returned." Jenny ordered as she moved towards the central computer station in the base.

101010

Xander stood still in the VIP room that had been set aside for his group to talk in. They hadn't really had that much to discuss but it was a nice way for him to get out of the briefing room so he could figure out a few plans and talk to Cortana about setting up an dialogue with the United States government and the possible involvement of their troops in Sunnydale. "What are your thoughts on this Cortana?"

"If we let troops into Sunnydale it could greatly increase our chances of wiping out the remaining populations of demons infesting the town but it also presents the problem of what do you do if a team or even just a single special forces operative is turned by a vampire. Combining their level of skill and training with the inherent abilities of a vampire paints a very grim picture."

"True, but that's the same problem with any hunter group that we could contact or set up. At least this way we have teams that are already fully trained and familiar with working in groups, something that we would have to do before we could commit any people we tap for extra manpower."

"Also true. Do you still plan to increase our unit to include others?" Cortana asked as she kept researching methods to increase armor production. She knew Xander well enough that he would agree to recruit a few others simply for the extra eyes and ears around town. Also she was experimenting in her spare time with ideas of how to recreate the Orion Program while limiting the amount of disastrous side effects generated by Orion. So far the results weren't too pleasing, Dr Halsey had spent years looking for ways to prevent those same results and was unable to come up with a viable solution before the program went active.

"How many should we recruit right off, I think we should just limit ourselves to two or three but leave room for more later on down the road if we find someone that we could slot in easily enough." Xander suggested as he watched Faith and Linda talking to Carolyn and Joseph. It seemed like they were getting along at the surface but he was willing to bet that Faith didn't trust them from the way she stood outside the little group.

"Two or three, wait one. Incoming transmission from Alpha Base. Jenny activated her panic button. I'm attempting to find out what's happening. Cortana relayed as she tried to boost her signal power through the hummer that was waiting nearby. Xander tried to wait patiently but he feared for the life of his friend. Jenny wouldn't set off her panic button unless she was really in danger. "Uplink established. Base defenses successfully repelled an attack by twenty-seven vampires, all confirmed fatalities. Jenny made it inside safely and is now online wishing to talk to us."

"Put her on." Almost before he had even finished speaking a small vidscreen popped up on his HUD displaying Jenny sitting in a chair at Alpha Base. "Jenny, are you alright, what happened?"

"I'm fine. Just a little out of breath; remind me to take you up on that offer of some training when you get back here. Which by the way should be as soon as possible. We have some serious problems now. Angelus is back and he's hooked up with Spike and Drusilla."

"How the hell is he back? I thought the curse prevented him from taking control of the body?"

"I don't know, all I know is he was with the group chasing me and he was obviously in command. The curse must have been broken somehow. I'm uploading the curse to you now, get Cortana to translate it and then maybe we can figure out how it was countered." Jenny said as she typed away at a keyboard out of view of the camera.

"We got it." Cortana interjected as she effortlessly translated it. "The curse has a clause that allows it to be broken if Angel experienced a moment of perfect happiness."

"How the hell could he get perfect happiness, I mean happiness is subjective to the person, everyone has their own pleasures and ideas of what it would entail. Is tied to the original caster of the spell or is it tied to Angel himself?"

"Don't know, and right now its now important. I'm heading back to Sunnydale now, stay inside Alpha Base and don't leave for any reason. The defenses there will keep you safe until I arrive and when I get there we'll figure out a plan. Also contact the others and tell them that Angelus is loose, tell them to avoid going anywhere that he can get into easily, meaning public buildings or places where he got an invite." Xander ordered. Once he finished his little speech he turned and strode for the door having every expectation of telling General Hammond that he was leaving then and there.

Airman Stirling stood outside the VIP room waiting for the group that he escorted to it to come outside and ask for anything or to take them back to the briefing room when they were ready. He knew that he shouldn't ask questions and he was supposed to look the other way when classified events happened within the base but he was still human and curiosity was making him desperate to try and find something about these people.

All of a sudden the door was flung open at high speeds. If he had been standing on the other side he would have probably had his nose broken when the door slammed into him, as it was the door impacted with enough force to crack it nearly in two as the rooms occupants stormed out. The man in the armor was in the lead and the rest following him looking confused. One of the young girls was talking to him, or more accurately yelling at him. "Yo tin man, what's the rush?"

"We have to get back to Sunnydale now. One of my team is in danger and I'm not going to sit here doing nothing when I could be back there helping her.

"Wait, you can't go back there without General Hammond's permission." Stirling shouted as he tried to keep the group from leaving. The entire procession stopped to look at him for one short moment before continuing on. "If you want to stop us, I dare you to try." The armored man commented as he shoved Stirling gently off to the side and marched onward.

In the briefing room Colonel O'Neill was informing Daniel that he would be the one to hammer our a treaty with the Asgard over the assumption of ownership of the planet Venus and subsequent exchange of resources or technology in exchange for the planet in question when things went to hell. The demon hunter group burst back into the room with Airman Stirling at the front yelling at them that they couldn't go in there. Harris was merely just pushing him along to keep him moving. "As I said earlier if you wanted to keep me out of here I dare you to try and since we're now here why don't you shutup for thirty seconds. General Hammond, I didn't want to do this but I have to ask that me and my group be allowed to leave your facility now. I have a situation brewing back home that requires my presence immediately."

"You and your group are free to go at anytime. May I ask the nature of this problem? Is there anything we can do to help?" General Hammond offered.

"The problem is a two hundred and fifty year old vampire who has just been freed from a curse that restored his soul to him, now that he's free he's able to retake his title as the most vicious vampire in recent history. If you want to send soldiers into that that's your choice but I'm leaving now." Xander stated. While he wouldn't mind the extra manpower he was concerned about the potential body count that Angelus could create with Special Forces units who weren't prepared to fight against vampires.

Colonel O'Neill raised his hand. "I volunteer myself. We need to learn about this new threat sometime, and it may not be wholly contained on Earth. If we encounter demon races somewhere else in the galaxy then we're going to need to know how to fight them and this seems like the best time to find out how we measure up."

"You can go if Mr. Harris will allow it you can be a temporary liaison between the air force and his group until we can come up with something more permanent or determine if it is actually needed. Do you need any equipment or transportation back to wherever your home town is?" General Hammond asked.

"No I can arrange transportation, I have a private vehicle that can meet us at the tunnel entrance if you'll let it through the gates. Oh and for future reference, please don't call me Mr. Harris either Xander or Spartan"

"I can allow that. Who will be driving this vehicle and what's it look like so I can tell the gate guards to let it through."

"Military issue hummer, black, and no driver. Fully automated." Xander answered with a grin. Though no one could see it since he had slipped his helmet back on for his private conversations with Cortana back in the VIP room.

"Sir, we like to go too." Major Carter requested. Both Teal'c and Doctor Jackson nodding their heads in agreement with the major's request.

"I'll tag along too if its alright with you George, I want to see for myself these so called 'demons'" Jacob said as he came to stand with the group. Selmac had been keeping him busy the past few minutes asking for information on all of the military capabilities of the equipment that had been shipped out through the stargate.

"Don't let him come!" Cortana whispered quickly.

"Why not?"

"I checked the SGC and NID database. He's supposed to have one of those Goa'uld parasites sharing his brain, both organizations believe that he's a security risk and are unwilling to trust him. It's one of the few things that they both agree on, in fact the only two people who have written recommendations of further contact with the Tok'ra resistant group are his own daughter Major Carter, so she's naturally biased, and Doctor Jackson who doesn't have enough military experience to base a solid enough opinion on. I don't think letting him get a good look at our base or the technology that's in it is a good idea."

Considering it for a brief second Xander realized that the advice Cortana was giving him made sense. If both the NID and the SGC considered Jacob Carter to be a security risk then there was no way he was going to let him know of the location of Alpha Base or the importance of the town of Sunnydale. "General Hammond, I'll take the help of SG-1 and any other teams that you wish to send as long as they pass your normal security procedures but I request that General Carter not be allowed to come with us."

"Why don't you want me to come with you? Afraid I might figure out that this is all some bogus wild goose chase?" Carter argued.

"Alexander, I do have to ask the same question, why don't you want Jacob Carter to accompany you?"

"The information that I lifted from the NID database is extremely detailed and it mentioned in one section how both the SGC and the NID view the Tok'ra as security risks, and to be frank I don't trust any person who would willingly let himself be compromised in that way." Xander rebutted.

"Xander, the hummer is five minutes out. Better warn the General, don't want the paint job to be scratched now since I won't be building you a new one if you destroy this one."

"General Hammond, my hummer is about to approach the gate, I would appreciate it if you would warn the guards that it is about to arrive and me and my team are about to leave. Also I was wondering if I could ask for one other favor from you?"

Thinking that it might be a good idea to have Harris end up owing them one down the road or at the very least get on his good side for now like the Joint Chiefs were talking about Hammond replied. "What do you need?"

"I want Carolyn and Joseph to remain here at the SGC, I'll discuss my reasons with you about that later when I resolve the situation back home. More than likely we'll come to a deal and it'll probably involve more than a few concessions on both our parts, might even have to do with some advanced technology but I make no promises or guarantees right now about that."

"Done."

Carolyn and Joseph both walked up protesting that they shouldn't have to remain behind. "What about my mother, she's back there?

"Carolyn, you know me. Do you really think I would let anything happen to her? She practically raised me, hell half the time I think of her as my mother too. I swear to you I will get her out of town the second that I get back and send her here to join you two."

"You better." Carolyn whispered as she hugged him fiercely.

"Harris, whenever you're ready to move me and my team are ready to go with you. Daniel you stay here, don't argue with me! You have to get that treaty with the Asgard ironed out."

"But Jack, I can help."

"Daniel just do it!"

General Hammond looked around the room at the various people and noticed that most of them seemed to be slightly angry at how this day had turned out. Jacob carter being the most visible of them, probably still smarting over the perceived insult from the government that they no longer trust him and now Harris here said that the one thing that the SGC and the NID both agree on is that the Tok'ra aren't to be trusted meaning that the working relationship with the Tok'ra would probably become a bit more strained over the next little while. God only knew what Thor was making of this as he sat there observing all of us.

"Sg-1, you are clear to accompany Alexander back to his home town and assist in his operation till I receive orders otherwise." With that he turned to give the gate guards warning that an automated black military hummer was about to approach. As the whole group turned to walk out he heard Major Carter asking the question that he wanted to know. "How did you get the technology to build a fully automated hummer?"

"Tell you about it on the trip back, you guys got to make any stops to grab your gear or what?"

"We'll grab the gear from the upstairs armory at the entrance as head out. General Hammond will tell them to grab a few mission packs for us." Colonel O'Neill said as he followed the large group into the elevator and pressed the appropriate key to take them to the new surface entrance.

1010

Whitehouse, Washington D.C.

"Mr. President, his lordship Sir Anthony Howard Whitley to see you." Agent Johnson of the Secret Service announced as he preceded the man into the oval office.

"Send him in." The President replied getting up from behind his desk and came around from behind it to shake the ambassador's hand. "Mr. Ambassador, its nice to see you again. How are the kids?"

Ambassador Whitley from the United Kingdom to the United States was a little startled. He had only taken his post in the last few weeks after the previous ambassador stepped down for health reasons. "They're fine sir, thank you for asking. And how are you doing today if I may be so bold as to inquire and your children as well?"

"Both fine, just starting college, hellions the both of them. I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you here to see you."

"Yes I must admit I was quite surprised to see an invitation to the White House so soon after my appointment, I take it that its not merely a welcome to Washington discussion."

"I'm afraid not. We need to have a rather lengthy talk and what I'm going to discuss with you during this talk will be rather shocking. That's why I invited two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to sit in on this conversation, they're merely gathering the information in a secure format that I want you to look over as well."

"This all sounds rather ominous, do you have information or knowledge of a direct threat to the security of the United Kingdom that I need to know about?"

"In a way it does involve that, but I think we should start at the beginning. Have you ever heard of something called the Stargate?"


	13. Chapter 12

Author's Notes: Sorry about the incrediably long delay in getting this chapter out to you guys. I just finished my year of study at University so I should be able to devote more time to writing but don't count on it. I'm going to get a job as soon as possible but I should still be able to resume updates to my stories with more speed than once every seven months. Anyway, I'm sure none of you care about any of that. So as always any comments, suggestions, ideas, complaits as long as they ain't flames, will be taken seriously and given a fair chance.

Now on with the story!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 12

The steady droning of the C-130 Hercules four massive prop engines was a soothing sound to dozens of seasoned warriors that were part of the cargo. Three dozen members of the SGC's newly expanded offensive forces were asleep in the hold, following the motto of military forces everywhere take the sleep you can get since you never know when you'll get another chance. SG-1, along with the team commanders for the other units that had been assigned as additional firepower, sat in a forward compartment of the gigantic plane, going over the extremely sketchy information that they had been given so far on their target and mission which was barely enough to even give them an overlay of what they would be facing.

"Sir, what opposition are we going to be facing? Details were a little scarce when we were given our mission briefing." Major Castleman, SG-3, asked.

"According to Harris, demons. Vampires if you want to be exact." O'Neill answered.

"You're kidding right?"

"Fraid not Major. We managed to get some independent confirmation on the hostiles. I tend to believe Thor when says something exists." O'Neill replied.

"Well shit." Castleman muttered. "So how do we deal with them? I mean is it like in the movies, stake through the heart and all that?"

"Yes, it's exactly like that." Xander answered as he walked into the partitioned off command section. "Most of the movies got it right, stakes through the heart, decapitation, fire, holy objects and all that will disable a vampire if not kill it outright. But don't forget for an instant that a vampire is on average four times stronger than a human, faster, more resilient and a hell of a lot meaner."

"And they've invested suburbia California?" Captain Weber joked. A few of the other officers in the room cracked some smiles and smirks at the ludicrous idea that a creature out of myth and legend was really out there.

"Yes, they have and the death total is rising every damn night. It's so bad that the local high school's newspaper has a daily obituary section. That alone should tell you something." Harris answered. He could see the need for the men to have some humor over a situation like this but he didn't want them to lose sight of what was important here. That people every single damn night were losing their lives to these creatures and it had to stop.

"Jesus." Weber exclaimed.

"Alright, joking aside, do you have any hard Intel for us?" O'Neill interjected. They were only a few hours out from Los Angeles Air Force base where they would then proceed north to the target location. After that it was up to Harris to give them directions, a situation that wasn't sitting well with some of the other team commanders. A civilian in charge of a military operation like this grated on everyone's nerves but the more experienced officers recognized that the kid, according to O'Neill at least, had experience and contacts that they would need in order to survive in the combat zone.

"Ok, gather round and watch the screen. It's home movie time. If you have any relevant questions I'll answer them, bullshit ones are ignored." Xander said as he used his armor's external wireless system to connect to the computer-briefing screen. It took a few extra seconds to interface since the system wasn't exactly designed for this type of interaction but Cortana managed to jury-rig the system.

Images flowed across the screen; mostly a random jumble of crap until the system stabilized and a topography map of the town came into existence. "Ok people listen up and listen good. Sunnydale, aka Sunny Hell by those in the know, is a town situated on top of an inter-dimensional portal that links this dimension and another hereby referred to as Hell for the foreseeable future. And before you ask I'm not taking any theological questions on how that's possible, deal with it. The town is infested with a variety of demons, vampires being the most prominent. They tend to congregate around cemeteries, run down sections of the town, which there is a surprising amount of, and they also tend to frequent hot spots of activity such as bars, clubs, malls, or wherever a lot of people will be. Those are prime hunting grounds for them.'

"Make no mistake gentleman, vampires are vicious creatures that rely on instinct and their heightened senses to move about as they track down their prey. Before you go thinking that they are no more than dumb animals you should know that once the demon takes over the body, and this is a prime requirement in becoming a vampire, they gain all knowledge, skills, and memories that the original personality had. If they knew how to operate a jet fighter, the demon does too. Do not underestimate them."

"What types of weapons should we expect?" Major Samantha Carter interjected.

"Good question. The answer is, I don't know for sure. Some vampires disdain modern weapons for some reason, might be dependent on what era they were created in since they tend to bring that era's beliefs and junk through the ages with them. It could be because a vampire has a lot of built in weaponry, same as the other demon breeds out there. A vamp doesn't need to be holding a weapon to be a threat; they have their fangs, which are capable of draining a normal human of its blood within sixty seconds. Don't ask me how that's possible but its true and unfortunately I've seen it done."

Lieutenant Waters, one of the attached medics, looked somewhat skeptical at this claim. Keeping her thoughts to herself she wondered at some of the possibilities for a detailed medical examination of a vampire, it would prove to be a memorable trip at least in her mind. Not to mention it kept her from having to make the choice of staying on Earth at the soon to be revised SGC base under Cheyenne Mountain or to the new primary base on the other side of the galaxy.

As Xander spoke at length at the various weaknesses and strengths of demons that could be expected to be encountered in the sleepy town of Sunnydale Cortana displayed the pictures with diagrams of weak points, natural armor formations, and built in weaponry so that the assembled soldiers could get a visual idea of what they'd be facing. The assembled commanders sometimes taking notes, or asking pointed questions for further information when they need more.

1010101

The troops assigned to this mission, most calling it a snipe hunt, were scattered throughout the cavernous hold of the plane. Some sleeping, others checking their equipment, yet even more playing cards a time-honored tradition before a mission. The few civvies, or dead weight as the soldiers referred to them, were seated in a forward section reclined in the comfortable first class style chairs that were usually reserved for VIP's or high ranking generals if any were aboard.

Faith Lehane, current Slayer, was fast asleep in her chair dreaming. Her watcher, who was now as close to her as a mother could be to her child something that she would never have imagined in a thousand years, which granted her the comfort and stability that she needed to fall asleep on a military plane.

Linda Pryce sat beside her adopted daughter, something that still brought a smile to her face whenever she thought about it. The events at Set's mansion had finally broken through the last few remaining emotional barriers that Faith had in place to protect herself from harm. Of course she would have preferred a less emotionally frightening manner in which to do that but she would take what she could get, the end was the same in any way.

101010101

Flash.

Faith wandered through what appeared to be the crumbling remains of a town. The buildings looked like they had imploded from the damage that was wrought on their outer surfaces. The skyline was dominated by raging fires as far as the eye could see. All around she could hear shrieks of pain, suffering, rage, people pleading for their lives that were cut off so suddenly.

Flash.

The sight before her made her gag. A field of corpses stretched from horizon to horizon. Decaying bodies numbering in the millions were haphazardly piled on top of one another, as creatures that resembled something out of Lovecraft's worst nightmare slowly undulated on top of the sea of corpses. Even from miles away she could see the tentacles that slowly extended out what could only be its mouth, scooped up a pile of human remains before they were suddenly devoured by the creature. Before she could react a tentacle flared out from the creature and screamed downward unerringly homing in on her location, screaming in terror Faith could nothing more than stand there waiting for the inevitable death that was sure to come.

Flash.

Shaking like a leaf Faith looked around too terrified to grasp where she was. It took seconds that seemed like days, for her to grasp that she was till alive. Glancing at the towering buildings that ascended into the heavens she slowly came to grasp the idea that she was alive and not inside some demons belly slowly being digested.

'New York. I'm in New York.' Faith thought as she tried to figure out how she had come to be in the city.

A rising shriek drew her eyes skyward where she saw a sight that should have terrified her but didn't. Floating high in the air over the towering skyscrapers was a massive pyramidal ship, gleaming gold colored hull of the brightest material that she could name. Others around her were staring at the floating ship, if it was a ship, which just sat serenely in the heavens. All of a sudden without warning bright lights began to pulse off the sides of the ship, within seconds everyone knew that it was an attack of some kind. How else could you explain skyscrapers suddenly deciding to explode on contact with the glowing light beams that hit them.

All around her people screamed in terror as they ran for their lives, which were cut so short as energy beams began to rain down on them. Millions died that she could see, millions more died from the falling debris that poured down on them.

Flash.

Now she was standing in front of the White House where yet another ship was descending from the heavens. This one was radically different in design; instead of sharp corners this one had softly rounded edges. A gleaming off white, silverish, colored hull with flared out wings and two massive forward facing fins that stuck up high off of the main hull of the ship. For a moment she thought that it was going to attack Earth as well but it didn't. Instead white beams began to flare out from dozens of points on the ships hull, everywhere they touched they made people disappear and even though this should have terrified her it didn't. Somehow she just knew that those people were safe that whoever was in control of that ship was on their side.

Flash.

The sky was full of dragons, creatures from myth and legend that flew through the air on their leathery wings. From their maws fire emanated and wherever it touched ground the Earth was destroyed. Whole cities were blotted out as wave after wave of dragons dove from the clouds to breath fire on the helpless people.

Flash.

England, Faith didn't know how she knew that but she did. She was in England staring at the softly rolling green hills of the country. All of a sudden a flare of light drew her attention to what looked like a dead and decaying oak tree that sat alone in the side of a hill. From her vantage point she could see creatures coming into existence as they emerged from the bark of the tree, they took on shapes, forms of indescribable horrors. Even before they had fully formed they were already battling one another, for supremacy as they moved off in all directions. As they passed her position she could feel true evil, blacker than black, something so indescribable that it defied words.

The flash's came faster now, every few seconds she jumped from location to location. Barely staying in place long enough for her to grasp the basics of what was happening. She could see towns, cities, peoples, all of it burning, fire raining down from the heavens. Fault lines cracked and vented their fury as the unrelenting energy fire since that's all it could possibly be poured down from hundreds of those pyramidal warships. Cities toppled under the weight of fire, military forces that were woefully inadequate for the job tried their best as they launched nuclear tipped missiles from dozens of silos across the planet, countries that had at one point been the worst of enemies were sharing their tactical data in the hopes that at least one of them would be able to find a way to use it to save mankind.

FLASH

Faith stumbled around trying to get her bearings. She was no longer glimpsing sections of the Earth at phenomenal speeds. She was standing in a throne room, a primitive one at that, the walls was covered in the same writing that had appeared in Seth's mansion. For a second she wondered if her whole rescue and subsequent trip to the SGC had been a hoax but she it didn't feel write.

Turning around she saw a viewscreen, at least that's the word that popped into her head all those hours of watching nerd sci-fi shows at Linda's house paid off, and on it she saw an image of Earth. Rather than feel the sense of wonder that most people had when they saw their homeworld from space she felt horror. From what she could see the world was burning, mushroom clouds dotted the planet until she could no longer distinguish one from another.

A sound from behind her drew her attention and the sight that she saw was enough to make her scream in terror.

1010101010

Everyone in the plane reacted immediately, instinctively to the scream that penetrated throughout the cavernous plane. Soldiers that had been napping, playing cards, shot to their feet snapping weapons up into place as they scrambled into defensive positions.

Shouts for orders, clarification, and information came from dozens of throats as everyone tried to figure out what was going on. The team leaders boiled out of the briefing room one after the other, though Xander was the first out, his armor allowing him to just shatter the door with a swift kick that shot the decimated metal plates to the other side of the hold.

"What's going on?" Xander shouted as he carefully scanned the area. Seeing nothing he moved over to where Linda was desperately trying to wake Faith up from the throes of what appeared to be a horrendous nightmare.

"I don't know, one second she's smiling, the next she's screaming her head off." Linda frantically said as she shook Faith's apparently comatose body. Nothing that she did could wake up the dreaming Slayer.

"MEDIC!" O'Neill roared over the commotion. He didn't have all the clues yet but he knew that this had to be a problem for the doc's; they had the training to handle this situation.

Before Lieutenant Waters could even arrive the screaming stopped as suddenly as it started. Faith had managed to wake up. Weakly starring up at the people surrounding her she uttered just one word. "What?"

Castleman snorted in reply.

"You tell us kid, you were the one screaming loud enough to wake the dead and then kill'em again." Captain Raleigh gently said.

"I wasn't screaming." Faith defensively replied. She didn't scream, not ever. Well not in terror at least, there were other times in her life that she screamed but that only happened when she found some stud to give her a ride.

"Yes you were." Raleigh defended his position. He wasn't about to let some snot-nosed brat tell him different.

"Wasn't"

"Was."

"Wasn't"

"Was."

"Wasn't"

"Was."

"ENOUGH!" O'Neill roared. "The both of you, stop acting like children."

"I'm not a child!" Faith shouted in reply. Crossing her arms over her chest she slumped back into the chair and gave off all the appearances of settling in for a good sulk.

"Ok, you're not a child. Now do you wanna tell us what you were dreaming of that scared you so much that it required you to scream loud enough that I still have a ringing in my ears." O'Neill questioned. Having been a parent for a number of years had given him some skills in carefully questioning children though not all of them could be applicable to the young woman.

"I had a dream, it was a Slayer dream." Faith muttered in reply as if that should be enough of an explanation.

Linda who had up to this point been quiet suddenly shot to her feet. "Colonel, I don't think this is the best place to talk about it. Could we go somewhere a bit more private?"

O'Neill was about to demand for a full explanation when Xander moved closer. "I'd second that advice Colonel."

Staring for a full ten seconds at the impassive faceshield of the Spartan's armor, he once again had this sense of familiarity with the armor but brushed it off, and nodded. "Ok, back to the briefing room. Faith, Linda, care to join us? The rest of you stand down and get back to doing whatever the hell it was your were doing."

For the next two hours Faith described in intricate detail everything that she could remember from the dream. Events that had taken place, the landmarks that she could remember seeing, cities, and towns, all of the places that she had watched burn to the ground as the fire rained down from the heavens. The assembled soldiers had stood their with the look of utter disbelief on their faces, unwilling to accept the nightmares of a young teenage girl as some sort of warning of the future but when both the Spartan and Linda Pryce had begun treating it as a distinct possibility they had started to doubt. Could this young girl have really received a premonition of the future and if so could they leave it to chance?

O'Neill stood off to the side watching the Spartan and the girls mother comfort her while still subtly pumping her for more information. "Carter, what's your take on this?"

"Sir, she described a Ha'tak class warship in perfect detail. That alone should be enough since she couldn't have seen it anywhere else. We don't have any images of one in our databases so Harris couldn't have shown her and that second ship she described sounds an awful lot like an Asgard ship. The white energy beam that she mentioned does fit the description of their transporter beams, though I can't be sure."

"Which brings up even more questions. The main ones being, how far down the timeline does this attack occur, and how bad must it have been to make the Asgard help in the evacuation of the planet?" O'Neill replied. "We don't have a choice, we can't just ignore this. We'll have to treat it as reliable until and when we receive information to the contrary."

"Doesn't the Protected Planets Treaty prevent any attack on Earth by the Goa'uld?" Carter asked.

"It does and it doesn't."

"I'm not sure I understand sir?"

"The treaty prevents any attack by the Goa'uld System Lords. It doesn't prevent one of them from going rogue and doing it. To maintain the treaty the System Lords would have to make an attempt to stop it, unless they want the Asgard to crush them like a bug in retaliation, but they could say that they weren't capable of intercepting the rogue in time and that still leaves us up shit creek without the paddle or the canoe." O'Neill answered. After the whole fiasco with the treaty summit he had asked Thor for a translated copy so that he read the damn thing at home, he didn't want to be caught flat-footed by some obscure amendment in the fine print. In the end it was a complete bluff on the Asgard's part anyway, they didn't have the ships to enforce the treaty to begin with. If the Goa'uld ever figured that out then Earth was screwed.

Major Carter stood silently for a moment before another disturbing thought hit her. "How many people could we evacuate off Earth if we did face an all out attack?"

"I don't know, the Alpha site is still gearing up so we don't have the resources to maintain a stable enough food supply for more than a hundred thousand right now. Given enough time we might be able to accommodate a million or so but that'll require a lot of rationing. Last I heard the President was opening up the secondary Gate to our allies, Brits and Canadians first. It'll be transported up to one of the Canadian's Diefenbunker style bases and then we'll coordinate the Gate usage so neither will interfere with the other so that we can both maintain a stable supply chain to our off-world bases." O'Neill mentioned. In a way he was glad that POTUS was opening up the Gate to their allies, it would free up some American troops from other commitments here on Earth. Not to mention it would give them some political leeway down here on Earth and out in the galaxy if they for once had an ally with motives that they could understand.

"I'd better give Hammond a call. He's going to want to pass this up the chain." O'Neill said as he walked out of the compartment, obviously on his way to another section of the plane in search of a secure phone.

A short while later the C-130 Hercules touched down on the darkened airstrip of Los Angeles Air Force Base. The base commander had been alerted that a Special Forces Operations plane would be touching down and that he was to have all non-essential personal well away from the strip when it did. Even so there was still a good number that were on hand to observe three military grade black Humvee's roll off the back of the plane. Men and women in full combat gear disembarked and began to load weaponry, ammo crates and other gear into the back of the Humvee's that had been requisitioned from the bases motor pool. The supply trucks that had also been requisitioned, plus the attendant gear that usually went with a major operation had already been loaded. They were just waiting for the Special Forces operatives to show and take command of the group.

Airman Bishop watched as the convoy moved out, pulling out onto the access road that would take them to the highway and into the night. Turning to one of his buddies he asked. "What the hell was that?"

"Whatever it was you keep it to yourself. Something about this doesn't smell right to me. Something big is gonna go down." Sergeant Dianne Isherwood replied.

"But Sarge!"

"You keep your damn mouth shut or I'll have you cleaning out the latrines with your tongue for the next month." She ordered. Satisfied that the young airman wasn't going to do anything too stupid she turned to watch the convoy's headlights fade into the distance. Whatever was going to go down was going to go down close, her gut just told her that, and it was going to be bad.

101010101

"This is Wendy Ridley for WXPN News, Good Morning Los Angeles. Today we have yet another beautiful day for you to wake up to. The skies are going to be clear and the temperature is going to be a balmy 97 degrees, doesn't that just sound fun!" The perky blonde beamed into the camera as she tried to muster the enthusiasm for being stuck out in the cold morning doing a location shot for the early morning edition.

'Ok, maybe I shouldn't have kneed the bastard in the balls.' Wendy thought to herself as she continued to drone on and on about what a great day it was going to be. She could see that the cameraman's eyes had once again focused on her chest instead of her face where it should be. "Shouldn't have worn the sheer top today.'

All of sudden the cameraman, Joe something or other, began to gesture furiously behind her. Glaring at him she shot a look over her shoulder to see what got him so riled up.

"Holy shit!"

Thirteen military Humvee's, with a convoy of about ten more camouflaged military supply trucks, were rolling down the highway, she could plainly see the armor that had been grafted onto the sides. The one in the lead seemed to be cut from the night itself, running without lights the black armor just glistened in the starlight and artificial light from the streetlights that reflected off its sides. One by one they slowly moved past her position.

"Tell me you're getting this, god tell me you're getting this." Wendy pleaded as she sidestepped out of the frame to let Joe pan the camera around to get as much of the shot as he could.

"Got it, got it, got it. Steve! Get on the phone and call the station tell'em we got a new lead story for the morning edition."

101010101

Major Louis Ferretti walked to the window in his forth story office overlooking the newly completed airstrip, one of about twelve airstrips and the final one to be needed actually. The Army Corp of Engineers were congratulating themselves on a job well done, a little impromptu celebration was going on down near the parked bulldozers and paving machines that had just finished putting the last coat of tarmac down.

The Alpha Site, what was supposed to be the most secure location and best-kept secret in the Pentagon was now the first colony of the United States of America not on the planet Earth. Already a little more than nine thousand men, women, and children called this little planet home. Located on the edge of the galaxy far away from the traditional territories claimed by the Goa'uld its defensive posture lay more in secrecy than any entrenched positions.

On the horizon far from the burgeoning military base that was growing by leaps and bounds everyday Ferretti could see the skyline of the first township of New Cheyenne as the civilian inhabitants were calling it. As good a name as any in his opinion. Some smartass Lieutenant had come up with the idea of letting some of the kids pick a name for the planet and even though he had feared, rightly so, that some idiot kids would submit names ranging from Planet Bob to Planet Ass-End-Of-Nowhere the one that was picked in the end was one he could live with. And so the Alpha Site world had received its new name. It became Nova Terra.

Shaking his head he brought himself back to the present. The base and its facilities had barely been operational for more than four weeks and already problems were starting to crop up. Discipline problems were his main concern, simply put the troops had nowhere to relieve any tension or spend their pay. This had been solved by getting permission from the Joint Chiefs to use some of the captured Alkesh and Tel'tacs to bring in supplies from Earth that were deemed to low down the priority list to come through the gate. Namely DVD's, movies, CD's, books, games, computers, console gaming systems, anything and everything that the troops could think up so that they could have something to do on this godforsaken planet.

One of the few Civvies in the group that was so far running the planet, which would probably become the defacto local government of the town in the near future, had decided that instead of distributing those materials for free it should be transferred to some enterprising individuals who were attempting to start up some local businesses. It had been a push for kick starting the local economy and Ferretti had approved it almost instantly. Even though the men were a little pissed that they would have to actually buy the stuff from local merchants instead of getting it hand delivered by the continuous cargo pipeline being shuttled by the Tel'tacs they had finally acquiesced to the orders to behave themselves even though there was still a lot of grumbling going on.

A knock on the door brought him out his deep thoughts. Something that would have amused Jack to no end.

"What?" He barked. Ferretti was in no mood to be bothered, he still had damn near a thousand requisitions and reports to go through and it wasn't even noon local time.

"Sorry to bother you sir, but Dr. Archer is here to see you." Astrid said as she peeked in the door. She was the civilian clerk that he had managed to snag from one of the groups that had come through the gate. After seeing her file, which said that she had worked at the Pentagon for a number of years as a secretary he had immediately offered her, a job before anyone else could, and after assuring her that the job would stick no matter who took over as Alpha Site commander, she had accepted.

"Christ, is it eleven already?" Ferretti exclaimed.

"11:30 sir. I thought you could use some extra time so I pushed back the appointment." Astrid replied as she came into the office fully, kicking the door shut with a foot was she calmly walked over to his desk. Even though he was watching her the whole time he couldn't figure out how in less than a minute she had taken a desk that was covered nearly a foot high in a jumbled mess and straighten it all out. "Shall I send her in?"

"You are a godsend."

"So my husband says every day." Astrid smirked.

"Send her in." Ferretti ordered as he sat down in the high-backed leather office chair that he had somehow managed to snag from the Quartermaster.

Dr. Pamela Archer, a woman of about forty who looked half that, was a serious looking woman dressed in a business suit that wouldn't have looked out of place on Wall Street. "Major Ferretti, it's good to see you again."

"You too Doctor, so tell me. What can I do for you today?"

"I need your approval to push the OWP program into full production. Our test designs have managed to exceed even our most conservative estimates."

"That would be the staff cannon platform correct?" Ferretti remarked. He could remember a few weeks ago when she had come to him with a request for several staff cannons that had been acquired, read stolen, from various System Lords. She had wanted to marry them to an orbital platform, rig it up with some shields, sensors, station keeping thrusters and see if it could be used as a rudimentary defense platform. After some careful consideration he had approved the plan and now it appeared to be paying off.

"Yes sir. We could probably have about two dozen produced and in orbit within a month, and with ramped up production capabilities still coming online we should be able to reach a plateau production level of about one a day within a three months."

"Approved. Take whatever personnel you need to get them in the sky as quickly as possible, just don't take anyone off the Prometheus project."

"Understood." Seeing as how she had nothing else to report at this time Dr. Archer left the office, most likely to go tell her R&D team of her success.

Deciding to take a break from the tedious mountains of paperwork that were slowly denting his desk under their combined weight Ferretti called up the latest reports from the Prometheus project. The original plan had been to construct a ship much like the Battlestars from the fictional program Battlestar Galactica, but when the Stargate program had begun to bring in Naval experts and researchers they had quickly quashed that idea. Instead the Prometheus project was now busy designing a full up dreadnaught that measured in at just shy of one kilometer in length covered in heavy weapons and armor that were still being designed, constructed and tested.

The Asgard Thor had managed to somehow sneak them the plans for a particle beam weapon according to O'Neill though no one was going to mention this to anyone else since it was technically against the Protected Planets Treaty. Even with the ship on the drawing boards there was already construction underweigh in a small anchorage built into an island at the mouth of the bay that the Alpha Site base was built near. Ferretti could see, barely, the silhouette of the construction bays that were being built as quickly as quality would permit and as soon as they were completed the first five warships for space combat would be built and commissioned into service. The construction schedule called for one dreadnaught, one carrier, and three battlecruisers, in that order. In time they would be able to build enough slips to construct more ships, for a more diverse fleet, but they needed to get a deep space force with strategic depth up and running and fast.

101010101

Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet sat in his throne like chair on the bridge of the _Beliskner_. For four thousand years the ancient warship had served as his flagship, served in countless campaigns across three galaxies. Over the centuries he had come to know every single millimeter of his ship, he could tell when he was straining the engines past their limits when the deck plates began to vibrate. When the shield generators were approaching failure when the whine they emitted began to oscillate on a specific frequency.

He had already made his report to the Asgard High Council, using hyperspace communications to deliver the report along with a copy of the treaty that had been forged between him and Daniel Jackson. With that he had received the news that a diverse group of Asgard were being assembled at Othala where they, with an appropriate escort of several warships, would along with the prototype be moved to the world of Venus for safekeeping.

It was this knowledge that left him secure in the belief that he could make a high speed run by the red planet known to the Humans of Earth as Mars before any defense systems that might have been left on the planet could activate and fire. Forgoing the shields that would drain his ship of critically needed power for an intergalactic escape if needed he decided to transfer the energy to the scanners, hoping to penetrate whatever scattering devices the Ancients might have employed. To borrow one of O'Neill's sayings 'What your superiors don't know about they can't countermand.'

The _Beliskner_ gently moved closer and closer to the red planet. Its image began to grow on the primary viewscreen at a phenomenal rate, and yet no matter how much power he put into the scanners he could find no evidence of advanced technology anywhere on the planet. Approaching the range that would put him, and his ship, inside of the planet's moons orbits Thor began to consider diverting course and heaving for Othala.

A beep drew his attention. The sensors had finally found something, the planets two moons were not the inert rocks that the pretended to be. Scans had penetrated the camouflage programs that kept them hidden and now that the ship knew what to look for it quickly began to find evidence of Ancient technology, artifacts and outposts scattered across the planets surface. A distinctive signature that could only be a Stargate was emboldened on the viewscreen and even as it appeared a dozen more appeared similar in nature but lesser in power. Curious Thor focused the scanners on one of the symbols but before he could even program in a new scanning routine the ships proximity sensors began to scream.

The moons, Ancient defense platforms in reality, had each launched a dozen drones and even now they were homing in on the distinctive Ion signature of the warships engines. Not wanting to push his luck against the Ancient weapons platforms Thor activated the ships hyperspace generator and vanished from the solar system. The drones left far behind, unable to follow into hyperspace. Something that Thor was grateful for since he knew that the Ancients had long ago developed weapons that were capable of hunting down and intercepting a ship in hyperspace.

Noticing a communications channel light was blinking on his command console Thor activated the appropriate rune.

"Supreme Commander Thor, this is Commander Tyr aboard the _Valhalla_. We have engaged a significant Replicator force in sector seven nine four. Enemy forces number six thousand seven hundred and twenty seven ships. We were only able to assemble forces approaching parity with theirs. We require assistance, the battle does not go well."

"Understood. I will be there shortly." Thor replied. As he spoke he altered his course to the sector designated in the message. He would arrive in fifteen minutes according to Earth time.

"I also regret to inform you that the _Mjolnir_ has fallen in battle. Commander Magni remained behind to allow time for the rest of the crew to evacuate. He did not survive. I'm sorry old friend."

For a brief moment Thor felt nothing, absolutely nothing and then he could do nothing more than feel the bevy of emotions that flew through him. For the first time in tens of thousands of years Thor actually felt something akin to sorrow, grief and then rage over the death of his eldest son. For millennia the Asgard had been incapable of reproducing through sexual reproduction but that didn't mean that there wasn't any children still around from previous generations. In Earth terminology Thor was still a married man with a wife and children, who he still dotted upon, even though they had been alive for tens of thousands of years.

"Understood." Thor replied and then cut the channel.

The Asgard warship screamed through hyperspace, its deck plates vibrating in unison with the banshee wail emanating from the neutrino ion generators that were dangerously close to overload and a catastrophic failure. Thor ignored it all. His mind was focused on one thing and one thing only. Revenge.

1010101010101

Deep space.

Twelve hundred Ha'tak class vessels sat silently in the void between galaxies. No one knew that these ships existed, only one being knew of them and he had waited for a thousand years. Marshalling his energies he had drawn forces from hidden strongholds that he had constructed when it had first appeared that his fellows were uniting against him. For centuries they had lain in wait, knowing that one day their God would return and with him at the fore they would sweep the galaxy clean of all dissenters and crush their foes beneath the armored boots of his armies.

On a planet in a nearby system a great host had assembled itself in the plains before the planets sole Stargate. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of Jaffa stood silent in their serried ranks. Every single one of them was wearing the newest armor that their God had provided them. For untold millennia they had worn the same armor as their brothers that were in service of their other, lesser, Gods, but no longer. For their lord had seen fit to gift them with better equipment.

The new Jaffa armor was more form fitting, incorporating the latest in technological advances that allowed them to take four times the level of punishment as the old armor. Their helmets, something that only a few used to be granted, were now standard. Every single Jaffa had a sealed helmet that was proofed against nuclear, biological, and chemical attacks. With a variety of sensors embedded into them they could keep in contact with their fellow warriors to coordinate attacks across planetary distances.

They waited. The Great Host of the Jaffa waited for the First Prime to give the order to attack. They waited. For hours they stood in the unbearable, omnipresent heat of the double suns. They waited.

A lone Jaffa ringed down from a floating Ha'tak, the only source of shade for those warriors lucky enough to be shielded by its bulk. His armor was golden in its coloring, denoting his rank as First Prime. Striding to the pedestal known as the DHD to the thrice-damned Tau'ri he punched in a specific set of symbols. Once the Gate stabilized from opening its portal the First Prime turned to the waiting army and yelled.

"FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF ANUBIS!"

The answering roar would have shaken the mountains to dust if any were nearby. Tens of thousands of Jaffa in ordered ranks charged through the gate. Intent on shattering any who dared to stand in their path.


	14. Chapter 13

Author's Notes: Just a quickie chapter since I'm sure you were all wondering how the battle would go. I'm going to switch over to writing Shadowrun for the next few days so expect a chapter update for that story relatively quickly. Now on with the story. Enjoy!

Chapter 13: Battle of Sector Seven Nine Four

The _Beliskner_ screamed through hyperspace, her commander sitting in his command chair unblinking, unmoving, barely giving off the impression that he still lived. Thor sat silently on the empty command deck, for centuries it had been his preference to command a ship by himself, allowing him to take larger risks, to go where he pleased and to do what he pleased with his ship. For centuries he had been the commanding officer of the Asgard Fleets. Leading campaigns that crossed galaxies, seeking out the enemy wherever they had chosen to hide themselves and also leading rescue missions to save primitive species from exploitation by races similar to the Goa'uld.

Thor could remember all those centuries, millennia really, ago when his wife had presented him with their first son. Magni had been the pride of his life. For thousands of years they had been the perfect family, his sons and daughters choosing to follow their father and joining the Asgard Fleets. It had come to no one's surprise that they had swiftly risen through the ranks, being the son's/daughter of Thor and grandchildren of Odin, they were expected to be the best and they had proven that without a doubt.

And then the Replicators had appeared. At first they had been no more than a curiosity to be studied and examined but soon after their first appearance they had begun to multiply in numbers, rapidly, and assimilate into their bodies the technology nearby. Expeditionary forces had been dispatched to attempt to contain the problem, they were never heard from again. Soon after their disappearance the Asgard had learned the true horror of the Replicator menace, somehow the artificial intelligences were able to subvert control of Asgard ships, modify them to incorporate whatever technologies that the Replicators were themselves constructed of, and then use them in battle against the Asgard themselves.

The first attacks had been devastating, and overwhelming, dozens of Replicator controlled ships had appeared over the skies of Asgard worlds and begun to fire. For untold centuries the Asgard had feared no race in combat, none had been able to match their technological prowess and thusly very few Asgard worlds had any defenses in orbit or on the ground. Only worlds that had been colonized during those early years still retained any active fortifications, rarely updated even when the technology that they were constructed with had long become primitive and quaint by Asgard standards. Odin, aboard the _Sleipnir_, had been dispatched to deal with the problem everyone thinking it would be easily solved but to their surprise the Replicator ships had been able to quickly overpower this warship and Odin had become one of the first to fall beneath the juggernaut that was the Replicators.

A beep on his command console drew Thor's mind back to the present and he became aware that he was only seconds away from reemerging into normal space amid a raging battle. Knowing he had precious seconds to prepare for combat he quickly tapped in a series of commands, ordering the ship to transfer all available power into the engines, shields and weapon systems, diverting power from non-essential systems. The subsequent demands by the weapons and shields systems forced the ship to revert back into normal space, not able to meet the demands for such a speedy intergalactic voyage and power the other systems at the same time. It worked better than Thor could have imagined.

The _Beliskner_ reverted back into real space directly in the center of a half-dozen Replicator controlled vessels. Before they had the time to react he had already fired upon each of them, using his ships more advanced weapons suite to destroy one, shattering the shields of two others as he passed. Unable to hit all of them Thor had used the transporter beams to move debris from the ships he had targeted and beamed them into random sections of the interior of the enemy's ship, overriding the normal protocols that prevented the reintegration of an object within another one. Two objects cannot occupy the space at one time, to do so would be to violate the laws of physics, and thusly those ships vanished as atomic bonds ruptured under the stress.

The modifications that had been recently installed at part of the latest overhaul to the fleet thanks to the recent advances uncovered from Loki's perusal of the Ancients repository of knowledge that had been removed from O'Neill's brain. Loki, along with a cadre of scientists, had managed to discover a number of technologies that would be useful in the war effort and had combined them into the prototype warship currently under construction on Othala. The Asgard High Council while extremely pleased with these discoveries had still demanded that they be battle tested to see if they would garner the expected results under battlefield conditions.

Replicator ships were usually class for class more powerful than their Asgard counterparts, save for in a few key areas. Their shield systems were based off Asgard designs and were therefore still vulnerable to Asgard weaponry, though it usually took a concentrated attack by superior numbers to batter the shields down and then to destroy the ship itself. This is why to date Asgard tactics in the Replicator war had been to assemble overwhelming superior numbers for fleet engagements which had allowed the Asgard to slow the juggernauts advance from completely unstoppable to a slow crawl. They could defeat them in space but on the ground was another matter altogether. The Asgard had not fought a true war in millennia and were wholly unsuited from ground combat, preferring to instead using weapons fire from orbit to remove any obstacles that might be on a planetary surface.

The Replicators had used the Stargates to bypass Asgard fleets all together, boiling out of Gates across a thousand worlds and infesting them beyond the ability of the Asgard to remove without rendering the planet uninhabitable. In desperation the High Council had ordered the deactivation of all but a handful of Gates in the hopes that it would slow the Replicator advance. It had worked beyond their expectations; the Replicators were stalled in their tracks the war settling into a stalemate that for the time neither side could break. Though with each passing hour the Replicators grew in strength and numbers.

Thor swiftly and artfully with the skill of a grandmaster altered his ships heading, arching it between the burning hulks of two _Ragnarok_ class destroyers he used the ships tractor beams to drag them behind the _Beliskner_. The twin hulks were snatched from a near standstill to a sizeable fraction of the speed of light, placing enormous strain on the tractor beam assemblies but they held. Spinning the ship like an ancient toy Thor used the tethered hulks as a battering ram to smash them into the two remaining Replicator controlled ships that had surrounded him upon reemergence from hyperspace. Before the twin hulks had actually impacted upon the shields of the Replicator ships Thor fired concentrated bursts from the _Beliskner's_ forward particle beam cannons to drop their shields, the flaming wreckage smashing into the defenseless vessels mere seconds later.

Within a scarce twenty seconds of his arrival Thor had destroyed six ships for no damage down to his own. The ships sensors showed that the rest of the fleet was not faring so well against the armada of Replicator ships. Hundreds of Asgard warships lie burning throughout the system, though each was flanked by a score of formerly Replicator controlled vessels a testament to how valiantly they had fought and died.

Accessing the remaining active ships databases Thor was able to gain an overall picture of the battle, it seemed that the tactic of the day had been to use the hulks of previously destroyed or disabled ships to hide behind then pop up to deliver overwhelming firepower to disable enemy ships. Hence the reason why so many disabled Asgard ships had the burnt out hulks of Replicator ships floating nearby, something that wouldn't be possible in a normal one on one engagement let alone one on twenty.

Tapping a rune he opened a channel to the Fleet. "This is Supreme Commander Thor, all ships are to form up on me for an immediate counteroffensive."

Icons blinked on his sensor map, showing which ships were acknowledging his orders. Those that didn't were probably already infested with Replicators and would soon be lost.

The _Beliskner_ glided through the rapidly assembling fleet, Asgard ships falling into position on his flanks both above and below the orbital plane of the solar system ready willing and able to continue the fight. The world they were dying for wasn't too important to the Asgard; the population had been evacuated days before when the first indications of a Replicator attack had been discovered, Othala easily absorbing the incoming flux of refugees to the homeworld.

A communications channel opened with the barest flick of a finger. "Commander Tyr, assemble a squadron of ships at co-ordinates zero-nine-zero by two-four-three and await my orders. You are not to engage without my direct authorization."

"Understood. Commander Tyr out." the channel closed as swiftly as it opened. Immediately Tregard squadron, comprised of twelve _Beliskner_ and _Ragnarok_ class warships, broke formation and flew to a position above the elliptical plane, awaiting their instructions.

Opening another channel Thor spoke swiftly and decisively giving the orders to Modi, his other son who was usually never far from his brothers side when it came down to a fight. Trusting in his son's instincts and ability to fight through the pain of his brothers death he gave him his mission. Acknowledging his orders Modi's ship broke formation and flew off, towards the primary of the solar system to await further instruction.

Turning his full attention back to the battle Thor could feel nothing but rage that these machines had been responsible for the death of his eldest son. Barely able to keep that rage from boiling to the surface and overwhelming his mind Thor took direct control of the _Beliskner_ and sent it on a path directly into the heart of the Replicator armada. Out of a fleet that had numbered nearly seven thousand ships the Replicators had been slowly whittled down to less than a thousand, granting them an edge of nearly five to one against the remaining Asgard warships.

If the Asgard lost this battle then the Replicators would absorb all raw materials in this system, grow stronger, more adaptive to the tactics that had been used against them and then they would move on to the next system. Determined to not give them that chance Thor ordered his ships to spread out in a massive wave. Using combined timed on target shots they were able to slowly drive the Replicator ships closer and closer to his predetermined attack point.

"Tyr, commence attack run."

"Commencing now." The reply came almost instantly, Commander Tyr obviously having been waiting for the word. The twelve ships of _Tregard_ squadron arced downward from above the Replicator fleet and began to fire upon ships that had thought themselves relatively secure in the center of the armada's formation. The _Ragnarok_ class destroyers, ancient beyond measure and woefully inadequate to stand up to the incoming fire were the first to fall in the attack run but they managed to shield the _Beliskner's_ in the group until they could reach optimal range.

Once within range transporter beams lanced out from the Asgard squadron, easily penetrating the shields on the Replicator controlled vessels and removed specific key components from various locations throughout the enemy ships. Without those components to regulate the reactions within the ion neutrino reactors they reached critical mass within seconds, the internal explosions ripping the ships apart. The shockwaves created by the death knell of a score of vessels destroyed the intricate formation of the Replicator fleet, leaving it vulnerable to the second attack wave being lead by Thor, the _Beliskner_ leading the charge from the forefront of the fleet.

Thor looked at his tactical display, curious at the unconventional nature of Tyr's attack pattern. By all conventional wisdom it should not have worked that effectively, Replicator shields were similar in nature and design to Asgard ones, preventing such tactics from working under normal circumstances but now that he reviewed the tactical data from Tyr's command ship he could see that the Replicator vessel's shields had been severely depleted over the course of the battle, hence the reason why they had been near the center of the enemy fleet. 'I will have to commend Tyr on his quick thinking once the battle is over.'

The Replicator fleet was shattered; internal explosions were shredding their carefully constructed concentric defensive posture. Asgard warships were flying past at distances that could be measured in kilometers, though the confused and dazed machine race was still able to command a significant advantage in sheer firepower but with the Asgard ships literately in the middle of their formation weapons fire meant to destroy Asgard ships was now impacting on Replicator controlled vessels.

"Modi, now."

Near the solar systems lone star Commander Modi activated a gravimetric pulse of sufficient power to disrupt the delicate internal balance of the star's core. Without that delicate balance to keep it intact the star went nova instantly. Activating his ships hyperdrive Modi was well on his way back to base before the shockwave could have threatened his ship. He knew that his father, Thor, along with the reminder of the assembled Asgard forces would have to remain in position long enough to prevent the Replicator forces from escaping the system which increased the risk of themselves being caught in the commencing supernova astronomically.

Modi sat silently on the cavernous command bridge of his ship awaiting word from the Fleet. The supernova would disrupt communications to and from any ship caught within the solar system so the only way to receive word on the plans success would be for Thor to reemerge above Othala or any other Asgard controlled world. Watching a chronometer Modi felt every second, as it slowly counted down to zero, the time for the shockwave to have reached the battle's position. Which meant that if he didn't receive word from Thor in another twenty seconds he wouldn't receive any at all.

Suddenly space was ripped open as dozens of hyperspace capable warships decelerated from supraliminal speeds to sublight as they reverted back into normal space. The _Beliskner_ at the forefront of the fleet, though not unmarked from the dangerously timed exit from the last solar system, one entire flank of the ship was scorched and melted, as if actually physically touched by the fiery wave of death that had emanated from the dying star.

The Asgard fleet had been badly depleted from the battle barely 2 percent of the forces that had been deployed to meet the oncoming Replicator invasion force surviving at the end but the entirety of the Replicator fleet had been decimated. It was a victory but a pyrrhic one at that.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14.

"Home sweet Hell." Xander muttered as he drove past that damnable 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign. He had half a mind to ram it. For some reason whenever he saw that thing it grated on his nerves beyond belief. 'It must have something to do with the fact that the Hellmouth's energies extend to that sign and not beyond.'

O'Neill sat in the passenger seat looking bored but behind that glazed look a military mind that had spent over two decades in defense of his nation was at work absorbing information from a variety of sources. Already he was forming a mental map of the town. Curious as to what the kid said O'Neill asked. "Pardon?"

"I said Home sweet Hell, cause that's what it is."

"Figured."

The drove in comfortable silence for a few more minutes before O'Neill thought up another question that needed an answer. "So where exactly are we going Harris?"

"I have a base of operations in the industrial section of town. I would have preferred to not give you guys the location or access but since the situation is getting a little out of hand it doesn't look like I have much choice. Just try not to let the NID get the information, I can snatch it out of their computers but I can't do the same to people."

"Can't promise anything, but we'll try." O'Neill replied. He could understand Harris's reluctance to reveal everything but unfortunately it seemed that circumstances were against the both of them. Most likely the NID already knew about the kids base and if they didn't they would soon have some operatives in town keeping an eye on him. "You have to know that they probably already know."

"I know, but let me keep my delusions for a few more days. I still haven't figured out what to do exactly." Xander replied.

Faith, Linda and Carter sat in the back silently listening to the exchange between the two soldiers. Major Carter was still a bit unhappy with O'Neill's apparent betrayal in his part in getting her father's commission revoked, while intellectually she understood the reasoning behind it it didn't mean she had to like it. Also General Hammond had overridden Colonel O'Neill's intentions of bringing Teal'c along with the rest of the troops to Sunnydale. It seemed that he was needed more on Nova Terra training the next group of pilots on how to operate a hyperspace capable craft than in combat against a force that could be handled by Earth weaponry easily enough.

"So are we going to get any more information on how you got all this high tech stuff?" O'Neill asked. It had been bugging him for quite some time. All the mess back at the SGC and Seth's mansion had gotten the question shoved down under the mounting pile of crap that was happening. Ferretti had been recalled and sent back to the Alpha Site, now Nova Terra, to get things back up and running. Not to mention he had to reign in a few of the capture teams who were getting a bit out of control with some of their antics off world.

Xander thought about it for a few seconds. 'I wonder how this will go over.'

Cortana who had been silent for quite some time, an event that had given Xander shivers, spoke up. Whenever she went off to do her own thing it never ended well for him, he could quite easily remember the last time she went on a little sojourn through the Internet. She had wiped out tens of thousands of Internet sites that were considered illegal by various international bylaws, namely ones dealing with certain obscene acts but the way that she had done it was the thing that scared him. She had dumped those sites databases directly into the FBI, CIA, and NSA servers. It hadn't been a pretty site. He had applauded the results of her actiosn, but the methods that she had used were the thing he had a problem with. Xander still found it funny whenever Cortana referred to the Internet as 'Hers'.

"Actually I think I can answer any tech related questions better than he can." Cortana said. Her distinctly feminine voice emanating from the tiny speakers in the MJOLNIR helmet, shocking everyone in the Humvee since they had seen Xander Harris inside the armor so they were wondering why he was now speaking like a woman.

"What the hell was that?" Faith demanded from the back seat.

"That was the pain in the ass who considers herself my better half." Xander replied. 'Show yourself Cor to the nice people before you have them thinking I have MPD.'

"That wouldn't be too far from the truth now would it." Cortana smirked as she appeared visually on the Humvee's computer screen built into the center console. "Hi."

O'Neill stared at the little female sprite on the computer screen. That nagging sense of familiarity that had been bothering him for a day and half now was now a alarm bell equivalent to a nuke going off in his head. "Alright, now enough is enough. Why the hell do I think that that armor is familiar? Where did you get it?"

"Well it all begins with a man, some blood, a devotion to an energy being and a shitload of pain." Xander began.

"That's not an answer." Carter interjected. She was curious as the next person but she had feeling she wasn't going to like the answer.

"Alright, you want the condensed version. I dressed up in this suit for Halloween but guess what? Halloween around here is considered a sleepy day, so I thought nothing bad is going to happen on Halloween. But of course fate decided to use me as her little bitch toy once again. The suit becomes real, my body is modified so that I don't even know if my genetics are the same anymore and I have now have a computer who shares my brain as part of her living space." Xander vented. Good thing that Cortana had reinforced the steering wheel to resist even his considerable strength given that he was clenching his fists tight enough to destroy any normal one.

'Xander?' Cortana questioned.

'I don't regret it, not really. You're probably the closest thing I have to a sister in my mind.' Xander replied.

Cortana was stunned into silence for a few moments, an eternity for an AI but in the end she replied with. 'Thank you, little brother.' With a smirk in her voice.

'Oh, no way am I the little brother, I'm older than you.'

'Older maybe, but I'm prettier and smarter.' She replied laughingly.

O'Neill was the one to figure it out. Something that would have shocked most of the men under his command, since he usually acted the fool around them at all times. "Harris, is that Cortana?"

"Good guess, and in the future please direct all questions like that about her to her. She may be an AI but she still has feelings like you or me." Xander answered. He was damn well going to make sure that everyone who met Cortana remembered that fact, she might be an AI but she was damn well considered a person in his mind. Also he was still searching for a cure for Rampancy, so far he hadn't been able to come up with anything that would work but hopefully in the future he'd find something that'd work.

"AI? As in Replicators?" Carter questioned. She, along with SG-1, hadn't had that many experiences with benevolent artificial intelligences and that made her kind of wary that this one would turn out to be devious as the others.

"No Carter, AI as in an AI from a computer game that I play at home. Now I want to know how exactly she is here, its just a game for crying out loud." O'Neill replied.

"What's fictional to this reality is real to another one. Quantum mechanics are a bitch ain't they?" Xander muttered. He was still having some difficulty with that same problem; neither he nor Cortana had ever managed to come up with a reasonable explanation that covered all the bases. She was of the belief that in her own reality that she truly existed and that she hadn't been 'born' when the spell by Ethan Rayne took place. In the end it didn't really matter, the spell was something that could only be done by a highly ranked disciple of Janus in good standing and only under certain conditions as well so the chances of it being accomplished again to bring other Spartans into the world were remote to infinitesimal.

"At least I went as the Master Chief and not as my second choice" Xander muttered, barely loud enough for everyone in the Humvee to hear. He hadn't planned on them hearing that but what was done was done.

"Oh and what would that choice have been pray tell?" Cortana asked curious despite herself.

"I was thinking of going as a Predator." Xander replied honestly. Thankfully Ethan's shop didn't have the needed costume or things might have been far different.

The group rode in silence for the next few minutes, each understanding that the event was something that was obviously somewhat traumatic for Xander. O'Neill was the one who finally broke the silence speaking into the radio. "Group beta, break off and head for the armory."

"Acknowledged. Breaking off now." Came the reply over the radio. As the convoy of military trucks moved through town over three quarters of the group broke formation and headed off down a side road making way to the Sunnydale National Guard Armory where they would await further instructions. The National Guard base in Sunnydale was one of the few that were stocked on a regular basis even though it wasn't an active base, someone had managed to sneak it through appropriations but since it kept half the inactive bases stocked the military didn't give a damn. The SG teams that left with the trucks would be the backup and med teams since they couldn't all be bunked at Xander's base, which created another problem for the future to fix. Expansion plans were already in the process of being created, Helljumper armor was the next on the list at least for those that Xander was planning on recruiting.

"Harris, stop the truck." O'Neill suddenly ordered.

Tapping the brakes gently, Xander brought the Humvee to a halt. The convoy pulling into position behind them. "What?"

"I think we've got something hanging from that lamp post up there and it looks like a body." Colonel O'Neill replied. He had seen far, far worse in his time spent in the Middle East but he never expected to see stuff like that in the United States.

"Shit. Faith, hand me that rifle there." Xander ordered as he uploaded Cortana back into his armor. The icy rush, painful as well, that always accompanied such an act let him know that she had settled back into place sharing his mind and his armor.

"This one?" Faith asked as she pulled the MA5B assault rifle from its case behind her seat.

"Yeah, pass up some ammo too." Xander relayed as he carefully checked the rifle over. It hadn't been properly maintained in all the rush from the battle at Seth's, to the trip to the SGC, and then the plane ride over. Remembering from John's memories that if any other Spartan had done something like that the amount of punishment that they would go through Xander mentally berated himself. 'Ha, no real Spartan would have ever leave a weapon without maintaining it properly. It goes against their very nature.'

'You're doing fine Xander, you have to remember that you have the memories and the conditioning but you never actually went through it yourself.' Cortana whispered into his mind. One of the sideeffects of the joining process of the AI to the armor also let her basically read his mind since she shared it with him. A little disconcerting at first but eventually both John and now Xander had grown used to her presence and in fact found it soothing to know that they were never alone any more.

"Colonel, care to join me?" Xander questioned. He knew the answer already but still found it common courtesy to ask anyway.

"Damn straight. What channel you on?" O'Neill replied. Grabbing a combat vest that Carter handed up, she was already strapping hers on. Linda and Faith grabbing their own weapons, Faith muttering the activation phrase for her bracelets under her breath.

"Six, relay that to the other trucks. O'Neill and I will go check it out, Carter you take the wheel. Faith, Linda stay here." Xander ordered as he activated his HUD. Noticing a yellow warning light he cursed. 'Cortana, when we get back to base we're going to have to do a full diagnostic of the fusion pack. We may have a problem.'

'Understood.' Cortana replied instantly. She had had a feeling that this problem was going to crop up sooner rather than later. The MJOLNIR suits were built to take a rough time in the field but they weren't meant to go such long periods without qualified technicians giving the suit a checkup. Hopefully the parts and equipment that she had painstakingly manufactured would be enough to get it up and running again. If not then they were screwed.

"What the hell. You don't get to give me orders." Faith began before being cut off by a shake of Linda's head.

"Stay in the car." Xander repeated.

Colonel O'Neill gave a pointed look at Carter, who nodded in reply, and took her seat behind the steering wheel as Xander got out of the Humvee.

"Harris, any particular reason why we'd find a body hanging from a street light not five minutes after getting into town?" O'Neill asked curiously. It seemed to him at least that Xander was treating this as a big deal.

"I'm not sure, most demons like to keep their kills out of the public eye, not wanting to draw any hunters attention but this could be a sign of bigger things to come." Xander replied softly. He had understated it somewhat; ever since he had taken over the top spot of protector of the Hellmouth the local demons had been very careful about leaving any bodies out in the open. For one to be actually strung up like this in plain sight it meant either someone was sending him a message or someone new was in town.

Walking the fifty feet separating the Humvee from the lamppost in question both soldiers worryingly checked the shadows between the buildings that lined the road. Each was assured in their skills and experience to keep them alive if anything untoward happened and each was increasingly curious as to whatever had done this.

"Colonel, does this seem a little too convenient to you?"

"How so?" O'Neill replied as he stared into the darkness down a nearby alleyway. He could have sworn he saw something move down there in the shadows. The early morning sunlight hadn't yet penetrated the shadows cast by the buildings.

"This is the main route from the highway back to my base, its also the most direct so if anyone was thinking of trying to intercept me they would do it around here." Xander explained.

"Yeah, it's a good ambush spot. Anything on your side?"

"Nothing." Xander answered as they finally stood underneath the body. Staring up Xander attempted to identify the nude form, it was female and blonde from what he could see. Her face was covered with a black cloth sack, but a few stray strands of hair peeked out from under the bag allowing some identification to proceed. A heavy course rope was wrapped around her neck in the standard hangman's noose, the way her body swayed in the gentle breeze confirmed the suspicion that she was dead and had been from some time.

"Alright, how do we get her down from there?"

"Easy." O'Neill replied, he pointed to the pole where the rope coiled down around it and was tied off at the bottom near waist height.

"This is too easy." Xander mentioned as he slung his assault rifle and began to gently lower the body down from the lamppost.

"It's a trap." O'Neill confirmed.

"Spring the trap or run like hell?" Xander questioned. Even as he spoke he felt Cortana leave the armor, shunting herself back into the Humvee. Trusting in her judgment he didn't say anything.

Cortana activated the sensors built into the Humvee; she too was thinking that this was a trap. Too many times had she and the Master Chief been in situations like this before. A nice juicy target left out in the open leaving them no choice but to either take it or walk away. A quick sensor burst confirmed her fears. Overriding the controls in the Humvee she accelerated to high speeds and yelled over the convoy net. "All vehicles, move, move now! The road is mined."

Even as the warning went out a figure standing in one of the deserted warehouses that dotted the road smiled and pressed a button. The figure's lips curled upward in a sinister approximation of a smile. "Die Demon."

The rearmost Humvee vanished in a ball of fire, the explosion large enough to lift it off the ground, flipping it end for end and landing it on top of the next one in line. Secondary explosions ripped it apart; the concussive force of the flaming Humvee slamming into it killed the men instantly. Already ten men, and women, had died in the opening phases of the Sunnydale attack and they hadn't even gotten a chance to see the enemy.

Using the sensors built into their Humvee Cortana was able to detect the mines that were embedded under the road. It appeared that they had been placed recently, since the road wasn't torn up and repaved it meant that they had to be in the tunnels beneath the town which allowed her to project a clear path. "All vehicles, follow me through, I have found a safe corridor. Do not deviate."

The shockwave from the explosions was enough to drive Colonel O'Neill to his knees as he held onto the corpse that had been 'rescued'. Xander stood stoically above him, using his sensors to search for any hidden booby traps around them. It would make sense for whoever put the body up there to have also rigged the ground beneath it with at least one mine.

Finding nothing he shrugged, maybe whoever it was didn't have enough or had something else planned. "Colonel, grab the body and lets go. Cortana, we could use a pickup here."

"Copy that, two seconds." Cortana replied instantly. Ordering the rest of the convoy to stay in place and not follow she reversed direction and carefully weaved between the suspected locations of the other mines. The armor that coated the exterior of the Humvee was better than anything that that United States military could produce but it did have its weaknesses and the undercarriage was unfortunately one of those areas.

The two soldiers stood under the lamppost until their transport arrived, not bothering to get into the vehicle and waste precious time Colonel O'Neill tossed the body into the open rear of the vehicle and along with Xander jumped onto the side rails. Yelling over the noise of the still burning wreck, and the ammo that was now cooking off, O'Neill ordered. "Get us out of here!"

"We're going, we're going." Cortana replied. Still overriding the manual controls which was irritating Major Carter she drove the vehicle back through the previously used path and took up the place as lead vehicle. Constantly scanning the roadway ahead of them to make sure they didn't run into any more surprises on the way back to base she activated the comm. channel to Alpha base and ordered the UV lamps to full brightness. If any vamps were hanging around hoping to get a shot at them while they were in transit they were in for a nasty surprise.

"This happen often Harris?" Colonel O'Neill questioned as he hung onto the side of the Humvee. He hadn't pulled off a maneuver like this in years; he was getting too old to be doing things like this anymore.

"Haven't run into landmines if that what's you're referring to but normally I fight at least two or three battles a night. Usually the demons around here are too weak to put up any resistance worth noting, though a few have enough magic to be a pain in the ass."

"Magic?"

"Yup."

"Damn, Carter's not going to like that."

"Suffer then. We got bigger problems, like where did some vamps get their hands on landmines." Xander said. Even as he said it he had a sinking suspicion about where the mines had come from.

"Beta group come in." O'Neill called.

"Castleman here O'Neill."

"Be advised that we have run into a mined road, repeat, the road was mined. Two Humvee's destroyed. 10 men dead."

"Copy that, road mined." Major Castleman replied. Cursing under his breath he motioned for the driver to pull off to the side of the road. "Wait one Colonel, I think we got a problem of our own out here."

Standing outside the Humvee Major Castleman, for the first in nearly a decade of service, found himself utterly speechless. The Sunnydale National Guard Armory was burning, every building was completely gutted, from where he stood he could see a half dozen bodies hanging from lampposts and any other object of sufficient height. "Colonel, this is Castleman. The Armory is burning, repeat it's burning. No civilian fire and rescue in place, and from the looks of it none are coming. This fire has been going for at least an hour or two."

"Understood. Hold one."

"Roger that, holding." Castleman replied. This mission wasn't even a day old and it was already a clusterfuck.

"Alright Harris, any ideas?"

"We can bunk them in Alpha base if your men don't mind sleeping on cots in the main construction floor. It's not designed as a barracks but it's probably the most secure location in Sunnydale right now." Xander suggested. It would seem that he had underestimated Angelus. That wouldn't happen again.

"Alright, Castleman remain in place. We're going to have to deal with the mined road first before we can get you out here." O'Neill relayed.

"Understood, awaiting instructions." Castleman replied. Both men could hear the frustration evident in the man's voice, obviously, he like the rest of them, didn't like sitting still when action could take place.

"Cortana, take us home." Xander muttered. Angelus had struck the first blow but it wasn't over yet.

The Humvee's drove silently down the roads, Cortana using the advanced sensors built into the vehicle to make sure the road was clear ahead of them as they went. None of the marines spoke, they had known friends in the vehicles that had been destroyed but now they sat stoically in the backs. They knew that they would get their chance for revenge; sooner or later the one responsible would pay dearly for their crimes.

It took just five minutes to arrive at Alpha Base, the numerous UV lights shining like a beacon in the early morning light. The bay doors were already opening, Jenny having been alerted to their arrival, and Xander could see her standing in the open doorway. Welcoming them home.

Cortana drove directly into the bay; the device that Xander had demanded to be installed clamped onto the wheels instantly and rotated the Humvee around so the front end was pointed out the doors. The speed at which it did this was nearly enough to throw O'Neill off the siderail; only his reflexes saved him from being tossed into the garage wall.

"Dammit Harris, warn a man next time."

"Sorry, keep forgetting that it's there." Xander replied sheepishly.

The other vehicles pulled into the large parking lot that surrounded the converted warehouse. Assuming that they were safe for the time being, the briefing having alerted them to the fact that the UV lamps kept vampires from entering the area they disembarked from the Humvee's and began to unload their equipment. Half the men took up covering positions while the others moved equipment into the warehouse.

"Everyone in, lets go, lets go, lets go!" Sergeant Major Gale yelled. She was newly transferred into the SGC, her family having already received clearance to begin embarkation to Nova Terra but she had volunteered to stay behind and take up this new mission. At the time it had seemed like something interesting and exiting but now it was a gigantic clusterfuck and the first day wasn't even over yet.

In record time the trucks were unloaded and the equipment inside the warehouse, as the men began to fall back in leapfrog formation Sergeant Major Gale continuously offered encouragement in the form of verbal abuse at any of them who stumbled or lagged behind for any reason. She was by god going to whip these men back into shape or kill them, which ever worked.

"That's it, last man in." Gale shouted. Even as she spoke the bay doors were already beginning to shut, glancing up at them she noticed that they weren't the flimsy sheet metal doors that one normally found at a warehouse but ones that were heavily reinforced with steel beams and armor plating on the inside. As they locked in place a half dozen cross bars slammed into position behind the door making it impossible to batter down. "Good set up."

Turning back to the troops she noticed that the command group was already walking off with the man in the strange armor. Shrugging she said. "Alright kiddies remember, we are guests in this facility so we will act like good little Marines. We are representing the United States Marine Corp, if even one of you acts like an ass I will personally force-feed you your gun. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Sergeant!" The men chorused.

"Good, now we're going to unload the equipment and set up shop. Don't touch or break anything that isn't ours. In fact don't break anything."

"Good advice Sergeant Major." A voice said from behind her. Turning around Sgt Major Gale, USMC, saw a woman comprised of purple light standing there, actually floating would be a better description.

"Who are you?" Gale demanded.

"I am Cortana, I run this facility. If you have any questions, concerns, or requests you can bring them to me. Xander and the others are currently busy. If you'll follow me I'll show you where you can store your gear and set up some cots." Cortana said as she floated away, not even bothering to make an attempt at walking or looking more humanish. They would have to get used to the weird if they wanted to retain their sanity in Sunnydale.

"Madre De Dios" Private Lopez muttered as he fingered a cross.

"Not quite, but thanks anyway." Cortana replied as she continued to glide away.

As one the soldiers turned to face Sgt Major Gale, who just glared at them and pointed after the moving apparition. "You heard the lady, get it in gear marines."

Xander carried the body over to a worktable and gently lowered it onto the metal surface. The four SG team leaders, Faith, Linda, Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter gathered around the body. "Cortana can you scan it and see if we're going to get any nasty surprises."

"One minute, scan in progress." Came the reply. Almost instantly followed by. "Scan complete, it registers as completely normal. No weapons, biological containments, nerve agents or toxins present."

Reaching down Xander grabbed the hood and snatched it off. Almost instantly he regretted it. "Oh god, its Harmony."

Bracing himself against another nearby table Xander fought down the instinctive reaction to throw up. Whoever had done this to Harmony, and Xander had a damn good guess who had done it, had sliced her face up almost beyond the point of recognition.

"Jesus, she's just a kid." O'Neill commented. In his life he had seen acts that were just as bad, or worse, but he had never before beheld an American teenager that had suffered as badly. It had been one of the reasons why he liked coming back home to America after a mission overseas, the notion that he was returning to a land of safety and security soothing a troubled soul after a mission into Hell.

"She's just another victim in a long line." Janna Kalderash said as she joined them. "Xander, if he grabbed Harmony he did it to send you a message."

"Yeah, well I have one for him too. Time to die." Xander stated with finality. Walking over to an equipment locker he began rooting through it searching for some grenades and more ammo.

"Harris, if you go off halfcocked it'll be playing directly into his hands." O'Neill said as he moved in front of the young Spartan. He could understand the kid's need to get out there and do something but rushing off without a plan was a great way to get killed. He might not understand a vampire's motivations but he did understand standard psychological warfare from a terrorist and a vampire seemed to fit the standard model.

"Well what exactly do you suggest we do Colonel? Stand around here and wait for him to make the next move? That's just pathetic and you know it. I have a map of the tunnels; I know his style and his abilities. I say we go down there and kill every damn demon we can find until one of them tells me where he is."

"Now that sounds like a plan." Faith chimed in. all this standing around and talking was grating on her nerves, she was itching for a good throw down against some demons. Plus she wanted to try out her bracers, see what they would be like.

"Fine, we go but we wait until the rest of the convoy group gets here. Also we have to deal with those mines before we can do anything."

"Deal, Cortana take the Humvee and bring the rest of the group in. See if you can get them to deal with those mines on the way in. a few grenades rolled over their positions should be enough to get some sympathetic detonations and if that doesn't clear the road Castleman should have some other ideas to use."

"Going now." Cortana replied as she transferred herself back into the Humvee. The screech of tires alerted everyone to her leaving.

101010101010

"_This is CNN Lloyd Roberts with an early breaking story. At approximately 6:00 am today one of our affiliates in Los Angeles recorded this shocking footage." The image jumped to one of several Humvee's traveling down the highway, looking impressively menacing with the armor and camouflage paint covering the vehicles. "At this time the Secretary of Defense has declined to give any statement other than 'No Comment' when asked about why the military was conducting operations in California."_

"_I've just been informed that we now have footage from our Eye in the Sky. This is actual live footage of a military convoy entering Los Alamos Nuclear Research Facility where we've just learned that a Presidential order has gone into effect to increase production of weapons grade uranium to an all time high that has never before been seen. Not even during the height of the Cold War were production quotas this high. This coupled with the disturbing new trend of overseas military base closures and the unprecedented recall of troops from overseas is sending an unsettling message to the American people."_

1010101010101010

_"Today the Prime Minister announced that in conjunction with the United States that British military forces would take control of all remaining United States Military bases located in the United Kingdom. The reasoning behind this sudden policy change has remained in the words of Parliament 'Classified'. This comes in the wake of an unprecedented recall to active service of SAS and SBS personnel by the current government._

_Many critics of the Winston government say that this is nothing more than a desperate attempt by a leader who finds himself at the helm of a sinking ship. That this is nothing more than scare mongering."_

101010101010

_"A confidential source in the Pentagon speaking on the basis of confidentiality released information today about the sudden halt in production of Naval vessels currently under construction at the Norfolk Yards. After doing some research this reporter has learned that all current Naval vessels that are in mothballs are to be salvaged for materials for a classified project, at this time we have been unable to learn any detailed information about this project."_

101010101010

_"We've just been informed that the Sunnydale National Guard facility located directly outside the sleepy little suburb with the same name has been destroyed by an unknown terrorist group. At this time military officials have not released any information, nor has any group claimed responsibility for the attack."_

101010101010101010

_"Washington D.C., a familiar sight for many in this country, a protest march is underweigh in opposition of President Whitmore's decision to secede all United States military bases in Europe, Africa, and the Mediterranean to the host nations in which they are situated. Personnel from every base in those areas, along with equipment are being loaded onto Naval transport ships, or Air Force cargo transports and are making their way back to continental US. This decision is being touted by many as the first step in the end of the Superpower status of the United States._

_Today the protest, numbering at just fewer than 50,000 according to the organizers has been unduly quiet. This might be in reaction to the unusual step that the government has taken that instead of deploying police in riot gear they have in fact deployed National Guardsmen in conjunction with Green Berets and SEALS on the steps of the capital building. The sight of these Special Forces in full combat kit has subdued the crowd sufficiently that there have been zero outbreaks of violence._

_Coincidently there has been an unprecedented rise in recruitment, it is unknown at this time if the Government will be able to find the funding for the burgeoning military as more and more people show up at recruitment offices around the country._

10101010101010

"_In other news Iran announced its intentions to voluntarily suspend all plutonium enrichment if the United States and its Allies would fund the construction of a series of CANDU reactor facilities. At this time there has been no formal agreement reached according to sources in the White House and Pentagon but it is apparent that Canada, in concert with the Russian Federation, have tentatively agreed to the proposal and are merely waiting on the United States._

_If the deal does go forward as early as February of next year the first facility will begin construction with an expected finish date of sometime in 1999."_

101010101010

_"Ford Motor Company has announced a general shutdown of all manufacturing plants within the United States as it attempts to retool all its factories for production of electrically based vehicles. This announcement came virtually on the heels of an embargo put into effect by the Arab oil producing countries that have stopped all crude oil shipments to the United States. It is unknown why at this time. Further information will be given as it's received."_

10101010101010

_"In retaliation of this unwarranted embargo the United States has stopped all foreign aid to the counties involved, and in fact has demanded that those same countries repay all outstanding debts to the United States. This has caused a furor on Wall Street with the expected danger of a Stock Market crash."_

10101010101010

_"This is CNN, we now go live to the United Nations where I've been told a historical event is taking place. In a rare post Christmas address when in fact normally many of the United Nations members would not be in attendance we have the unprecedented full house so to speak. Every single member is in attendance and the gallery is full with members of the press from at least forty nations."_

_The image on the screen switched to the central podium where instead of the United States representative to the august assembly stood President Whitmore himself._

"_May I have your attention please? Today after much deliberation the United States hereby and effectively immediately withdraws from the United Nations unilaterally. This nation has grown tired of its ceaseless promises, and unending corruption. This august body has proven itself to be completely ineffective in upholding its mandate. All troops assigned as peacekeepers under United Nations directives will remain in place until January 1__st__ and at which time they will withdraw and head for home._

_That is all."_

_"Tom, we're getting some movement, it appears that the representative from the United Kingdom is standing as well. Wait, I think he's about to speak."_

_"In agreement with the United States, the United Kingdom hereby withdraws from the United Nations as well. That is all."_

_"I don't believe it Tom, I'm seeing ambassadors from a least a dozen nations speaking over each other as they tender their countries withdrawal. It appears as if the majority of them are from NATO aligned nations. I see China, the Russian Federation, Japan, Canada, United Kingdom, the United States, France, Ireland, Germany, and dozens more. Effectively most of the countries that are labeled as the Western powers are leaving, in this reporters eye this would have the effect of just gutting the United Nations capabilities. Its finished."_

1010101010101010

_"We've just received word that twelve National Guard divisions, along with four Regular Army division, have been activated and are currently undergoing preparations for deployment to the US-Mexico border. Individual regiments will be deployed as soon as they re-supply and all active members report for duty. This unusual event has come on the heels of a bevy of assistance from unknown hackers from around the world. The DEA has arrested a record number of Drug Lords over the past two months, and in cooperation with hundreds of police agencies around the world it appears as if though 87 percent of the current drug cartels have been for a lack of a better word shattered. Drug shipments to the United States have been intercepted in uncountable numbers, and as a result the numbers of drug related crime has been dropping nationwide.'_

_"Mexico has decried this fortification of the border as an illegal act by the United States, purportedly the response from President Whitmore was worded in terminology that cannot be said over the air according to FCC regulations. We leave you, the listener, to figure out what exactly was said, but in this reporters mind it probably descended into barnyard mudslinging of the highest order."_

10101010101010

Xander stood silently in his armor, having only removed his helmet, as he along with the other team leaders watched the news broadcasts that were coming in from around the nation.

"Well this can't be a good sign." Xander muttered.

"What was your first clue?" O'Neill snarled. "But I want to know how the hell they got footage of the Sunnydale depot so quickly, and how come we still haven't seen any civilian fire and rescue heading out to take care of it."

"This town sucks when it comes to emergency services. If the demons don't have a few hooks into them then I'll be a purple-arsed baboons uncle." Xander replied.

"Well that'll change, Carter get on the line to search and rescue and have military services get out there and quickly. I want the area locked down and secure within two hours, no one gets in or out of that base without my or higher authorization. I don't want any more footage of it being broadcast; also when you get military services up here tell them we have two-downed Humvee's out on the road. Get them to clear them and try not to get noticed by the media."

Nodding her acceptance of the her orders Carter walked over to a table that Xander had told them had a phone for outside connections and began dialing. It would take at a minimum an hour for any help to arrive by ground from Los Angeles, but if they were quick enough off the mark they should be able to get a few units here by chopper before too long.

"Okay, what's the plan Harris?"

"Well I say we hit Willy's first, he's the local demon bar runner, not to mention he usually knows what's happening in town. We have an understanding, he provides me with information and I don't kill him."

"And that's a good thing." Linda Pryce asked. She found it unconscionable that a demon hunter like the Spartan would allow such filth to exist within his area of responsibility.

"It is for now, he knows damn well that the first time he feeds me disinformation is the day that I hunt him down like the dog he is and force-feed him to a vampire.

"Nice plan." Colonel O'Neill commented. "Okay we hit his place first, then what?"

"Then we act on his information. Angelus isn't stupid enough to sit in one place for very long, he knows that I can find him through the fact that most everyone in town is going to be ratting him out. The only problem that I can see right now is that he isn't smart enough to set up a minefield for us to drive through, someone is helping him and that makes me a little nervous. I don't have a clue as to who it could be."

"Alright then. You're in tactical command Harris since this is your bailiwick but if you don't mind some suggestions?" O'Neill started.

"By all means Colonel."

"We go after your source for some information, and after we get all we can from him, I say we take out a half dozen teams. Using coordination efforts we should be able to drive any enemy forces out into the open in the locations we want. We'll start on one side of town and drive them towards a central location, maybe one of the larger caverns. How good, and reliable, are those maps of yours?"

"Perfect, we hijacked a NSA satellite with ground penetrating radar to make them ourselves. It's updated every two days, and let me tell you that is something that is pissing off the NSA. They don't like it when someone 'borrows' their satellite's."

"Not commenting on the theft of government property, and moving on. Flamethrowers, grenades, shotguns, and basically any area effect weapon should be enough to disable a demon for a killing blow. We're going to need some information on what exactly will put them down permanently."

"We have a database set up, but most demons die when their head comes away from the body. Just like in highlander." Xander smirked.

"Damn, and I left my sword at home." A voice carried from the group of soldiers that had slowly congregated around the command group.

Turning to glare at the group, O'Neill used a will that was forged over two decades of service to keep the grin off of his face. "Alright, everyone load up for a combat run. Extra ammo, grenades, and med-kits. Silenced weapons are also going to be standard up until we get into the tunnels, so don't forget to pack them. Sergeant Major, get them ready. We deploy in twenty."

"Sir, yes sir. You heard the man kiddies, pack your gear." Gale yelled as she immediately turned and began barking out orders. Most of them were completely unnecessary since these marines were blooded, and knew what they were doing but it was semi tradition and it wouldn't do for someone to forget something cause she didn't follow tradition.

"I'll be right back." Xander stated as he disappeared into a nearby alcove that extended out from what was apparently his quarters. Janna followed after him; obviously knowing what he was doing and moving to help. The two returned a few moments later, Xander pushing a large pallet in front of him as Janna carried a large wooden crate out ahead of him.

"Alright, gather round and let Santa pass out some gifts. Everyone gets at least one from each." Xander shouted over the commotion of recent arrival of the group from the National Guard depot. With their arrival it brought the troop total up to about fifty, minus the ten that had been killed by the mines, meaning everyone was here.

"Do I want to know what you've got there?"

"The old standbys." Xander replied as he opened up the containers to reveal their contents. "Holy water in a squeeze bottle, take two, crosses and I don't care if you don't believe in God or whatever they work and you're taking them. Plus wooden stakes, one of the few guaranteed ways of killing a vamp, and for the smartass bemoaning the loss of his sword we have some blessed blades for those of you who are good with a knife."

Almost immediately there were some voices of dissent from the assembled troops to which Xander shouted. "Look I don't give a damn how good a shot you are, when it comes down to it these things may be all that stand between you and those bumped head bastards. Now unless you want to take the risk of becoming vamp food you're taking them. End of discussion, period."

There was some grumbling over the effectiveness of such primitive weapons but since Colonel O'Neill made it a direct order they had no choice but to obey. They took the offered weapons, and put them on their combat harness, using some of the black webbing to put the crosses on shoulder pads, or in an easy draw location. The blades replaced the standard knife; Xander has said that it was virtually unbreakable, so it might come in handy.

"Faith, Linda, care to join us?" Xander offered. Strangely the two woman had been unusually silent since their arrival at Alpha Base, Xander was used to the slayer always demanding to be at the forefront of any operation or hunt, or voicing her opinion on anything even if she had no idea what was going on. Hopefully this meant that the idiot gene was only pandemic in Buffy's case and not a part of the Slayer's nature.

"You're damn right boyo." Faith stated as she joined the line of soldiers picking up their anti-vampire gear, pushing her way into the line. A few of the soldiers for a moment looked like they were going to protest her involvement but after a minute they quieted down, the word had already run through them that kids as young as her were already involved in the hunting of vampires and that she was somewhat special in that case.

1010101010101010

_"This is Lloyd Roberts for CNN. Happy New Years Eve to everyone that is just tuning in. Today astronomers announced that telescope observations of Venus reported a bevy of strange lights in the upper atmosphere of the planet, it is unknown what is causing them at this time. Many are putting it down to a yet unknown atmospheric reaction that is just now being discovered."_

1010101010

_"President Whitmore continues his adamant stance that the United States will not allow the United Nations to continue to exist within the borders of this nation. While the land the buildings exist on had been seceded to the organization years ago the facilities still require periodic maintenance, security, and in fact basic necessities to be brought in by companies based in the United States. An Executive order bars any company from actually dealing with the United Nations in any capacity unless deemed appropriate by the President himself. Currently the site sits empty, though surrounded by a group of National Guardsmen supported by Special Forces soldiers to ensure the security of the site until all nation members permanently withdraw from the building."_

10101010

_"Ford Motor Company announced a breakthrough deal with Toyota and General Motors, which will share the cost of retooling the manufacturing plants within the continental US over to electric based vehicles. Congress and many in the media as a sign of future cooperation between the three industrial giants lauded this landmark deal."_

10101010

_"The first of many National Guard divisions reported for duty along the US-Mexican border. Within hours of their arrival protestors, many of them illegal immigrants arrived to blockade them from their duties. The protesters were subsequently arrested and face deportation back to their countries of origin under a new anti-terrorism and anti-espionage law that was recently ratified by Congress and the Senate. Any persons within the borders of the United States found to be hampering the lawful authority of the duly elected government and its agencies will be treated as an agent of a foreign government. Effectively this new law strips them of their rights to protest their deportation. Many organizations, private citizens, and companies have said that this new law is long overdue. Though this reporter has learned that the ACLU is already drafting a motion for the Supreme Court to quash the law as unconstitutional."_

1010101010101010

"Cover the flank!" Sgt Major Gale shouted over the sound of a dozen M-16's firing away. The tunnels just amplified the sound making it increasingly difficult to give orders, but thankfully one of her marines had seen the counter-rush of vampires and was already moving into position to provide covering fire.

"Grenade!" A private shouted as he pulled the pin and threw it down the tunnel. The explosion rocked the tunnel, pieces of debris falling down from the ceiling.

'Please lord, let the rock hold.' Gale offered up as a quick prayer. She didn't want to die because a piece of rock decided that it wanted to fall.

"Point men, move those riot shields forward. Keep up the pressure." As one the ten men in her squad stood from the crouched positions that they had been holding and slowly pressed forward. After the first week of hunting through the tunnels, someone had come up with the idea of using riot shields to keep the vampires from being able to run straight through into their midst. Instantly the effectiveness of them proved themselves in the next firefight when the vamps broke their strength trying to get through.

10101010101010

Xander, Faith, and Colonel O'Neill were at the forefront of another group when they ran across an opponent that surprised even Xander. The tentacle mass actually took up the entirety of the cavern, its prodigious bulk a multi-colored mass that appeared to be an unholy mass of flesh.

"Jesus, what is that thing?" Private Jensen cursed as he got his first glimpse of a non-humanoid demon. Even as he thought the word humanoid he shook his head. 'Been watching too much Star Trek.'

"That would be a Var'tos'ish demon, rumored to be extinct." Xander replied after checking the database. Even he had never expected to come across an opponent this size. He could only hope that they had sufficient firepower on hand to deal with it.

"That thing don't look extinct." Faith muttered. Colonel O'Neill was quick to voice his agreement.

Silently the group moved out onto the stone balcony that overlooked the cavern, the demons bulk dominated their view. "Damn, that is one ugly mother."

"And the understatement award of the year goes to you Jenkins." Private Lopez commented as he signaled for everyone to toss up some grenades. The ledge was wide enough for the entire unit to comfortably fit onto but that would leave them literally with no place to go if someone came up behind them. A fact that their Sergeant recognized immediately as he ordered most of them back into the tunnel, after they dropped off their grenades.

"Ok, Harris I hope you have something that can kill that."

"Historically, magic was the best weapon but I'm hoping mass firepower will make up for it."

"Alright, waiting on your signal then." Colonel O'Neill replied as he grabbed the first grenade that Lopez tossed up. It had been two weeks since the Sunnydale operations had begun, they hadn't managed to find this vampire Angelus yet, but they had run to stiff opposition from a dozen other demonic groups. Causalities were starting to mount, since the tunnel fighting inherently played into the demons greatest strengths. Allowing them to get in close and use their enhanced abilities.

Sgt Major Gale had been most vocal about the need for more effective weapons; something that even Harris admitted needed to be changed. So far Carter hadn't managed to come up with anything effective, she was still working on the problem though. She was trying something with magnesium tips and thermite plasma, for the big boys at least. Linda Pryce had offered to ask the Watcher's Council to see if they had any ideas, but they were deeply routed in tradition and discerned modern weaponry. But so far nothing feasible had been created, it had gotten to the point where O'Neill was really and truly thinking about asking General Hammond to send a wave of reinforcements armed with staff weapons, unwieldy though they may be they still delivered a concussive punch along with the thermal energy.

"Harris, what are you doing?" O'Neill questioned when he saw the Spartan drop the MA5B and start pulling something out of a belt pouch.

"Oh, just thought I'd send a little gift package to our friend down there. A kilo or two of C-12 should be enough for a wakeup call you think?"

"I like your style. Jenkins, bring up some C4." O'Neill ordered. The were light on demo packs but he knew that at least a few of the men always carried some with them, even though they were ordered to have left it behind.

"Yes sir" Jenkins replied, with a few deft and precise hand signals each member of the squad efficiently passed up the hoarded plastic explosives. Not without some grumbling that was silenced with a look of draconian pleasure by the Sergeant.

"Okay, a one two, or just a one?" Harris questioned. It was times like these that he wished that Cortana had come on the mission, but the desperate need for demon killer ammunition had required her to remain behind with the others at Alpha Base.

"Ours first, save yours to see what happens." O'Neill recommended as he inserted the fuse. Taking a good long look at the demon he waited until he figured he had picked what appeared to be a weak spot. Activating the remote detonator he gently tossed the package of C4 over the side.

"Fire in the hole." Xander whispered as he grabbed Faith and shoved her down into the ground behind him. Surprisingly she didn't punch him for it, the two of them had grown a bit closer after working out their differences over the past two weeks of continuous combat operations. She hadn't liked how he had assumed command back at the SGC but over time she had forgiven him and now considered him a friend.

The rest of the squad hugged some dirt, or floor, or wall depending on where they were. The explosion was massive, and the unholy scream that followed it was even worse. The banshee wail echoed off the walls threatening to deafen them all permanently as it kept going and going, showing no sign of ending.

"Dammit, didn't work. Harris you're up." Colonel O'Neill shouted as he fired his P-90 in controlled bursts over the stone ledge. The C4 had done some damage, ripping a giant hole the size of an APC into the side of the demon but considering that the demon was the size of a good-sized office building it wasn't enough.

"Fire in the hole." Xander shouted once more as he tossed a two-kilo damage pack over the lip. C-12, in the Halo reality was a very distant descendant of C4, and several centuries of continual increases in efficiency and firepower showed. The explosion, such a pitiful word, nearly collapsed the cavern completely. Stalagmites dropped from the ceiling in droves, and the banshee-esque wail that had been deafening them stopped with absurd speed.

Glancing over the edge Xander grimaced. The cavern walls, used to be a uniform stone grayish color, now they were pink with the remains of the demon. "It's dead, moving on."

"Oh goodie, what's next? A snake the size of a semi?" A corporal muttered.

"Maybe later." Faith smirked as she moved deftly through the group. The men moving out of her way, some of the smiling at the sheer chutzpah that the young teenager displayed in the sight of such demons. Over the two weeks that they had been working together the Marines had taken a rather fatherly role with her, and on her birthday a few days ago each and every single Marine had stood and sung 'Happy Birthday' to her. Horribly off key of course but the gesture was enough to make the young woman blush beet red.

1010101010101010

Former General Jacob Carter, host of Selmak, stepped into the Tok'ra council room. Rarely did a great number of them meet to discuss what on Earth would be considered mere gossip and rumor but in the wake of events that were happening across the galaxy it was required.

"Selmak, so good of you to join us?" Garshaw spoke as she took her place at the head of the table. High Councilor Per'sus was currently unavailable to attend the meeting, having to go into hiding after a Goa'uld System Lord found his latest hiding place and attacked with a force of twenty warships.

"I came as quickly as I could." Carter replied.

"We summoned you four days ago!"

"The SGC is currently heavily engaged in off world travel, I was unable to get clearance to use the gate for some time. And even when the main gate at the SGC wasn't being used the secondary and trinary gates were busy around the world."

"Three gates?" Anise questioned. It wasn't completely unheard of for a world to have two Gates, especially if one had been buried by a natural disaster but for a single world to have three operational Stargates. That was unheard of.

"Yes, three gates. The one from Giza, another from Antarctica and the third was recovered from orbit. Apparently it was found in the debris field left by the destruction of two Ha'tak class motherships that belonged to Apophis when he decided to attack.

"What are they using those Gates for?" Martouf asked.

"Apparently combat operations. As far as I was able to determine before my commission and access codes were blocked, two weeks ago mind you, they have diverted significant troops to the SGC. Two full regiments have been earmarked for deployment and that just the tip of the iceberg. The secondary gate was given to the Canadians." Seeing the confusion on many of their faces Carter explained. "Canada is another nation on Earth to the north of the United States. And apparently the third was sent to the Russians. All nations currently in the know about the Stargate program have begun massing troops and using them for full out assaults on Goa'uld worlds."

"Just how many soldiers does your former world contain?" Garshaw asked curiously.

Frowning at the phrase former world Jacob gave some serious thought to just how many professional soldiers lived on Earth. "To be honest I don't know, probably close to twenty to thirty million if you combine the various services into one group."

"So many?" Anise gasped.

"Well not all of them are very good, the United States has probably the second largest military, personnel wise, and we can call up a lot more men who are a part of the National Guard, a reserve force. Other nations like Canada, Russia, Japan, China, and United Kingdom each have their own militaries tailor fitted to their needs. China while not as technologically advanced in military terms believes in the old adage quantity has a quality all its own. It shows in the fact that they have the largest army on Earth, though they are behind due to their weapons being a few generations out of date."

"Why would your world require so many soldiers? They have no one to fight but themselves." Garshaw demanded.

"Mankind is a race that is always at war with itself, either over territory, resources, ethnicity, or ideological reasons. Oh and don't forget theological reasons thanks to the multitudes of religions. Earth is a melting pot of contradictions but so far we've managed to not nuke ourselves back to the Stone Age." Jacob Carter boasted somewhat prideful. Earth may be technologically primitive but they had their good points.

"I continue to be amazed at the barbarity of your people. They continue to fight amongst themselves while we the Tok'ra spend our strength keeping them safe, if not for our intervention your people would once again be the slaves of the System Lords." Ren'al sneered as she spoke in the double inflected voice of a Goa'uld, or Tok'ra, symbiote. For a few more minutes she continued her rant about the superiority of the Tok'ra in the fight against the Goa'uld System Lords.

"Jacob, just what are the Tau'ri doing with so many soldiers. We have received no reports of their being spotted on any worlds where we have sympathizers or agents. In fact all that we hear now is that the Tau'ri are no longer engaged in combat against the System Lords, have they finally proven their true colors and run like the cowards they are?"

Before Jacob could respond to the defense of his people, even though he had to wonder himself at what they were doing, a Tok'ra agent burst into the council room.

"Forgive my intrusion but a report just came in from one of our listening posts. Another twelve Alkesh have gone missing, the last reports have them scattered across the galaxy at various locations. We do not know who is responsible but we do have these recordings from a world belonging to Ba'al."

"Show us." Garshaw commanded imperiously.

The hologram device was placed on the table and activated. After a few short seconds it showed the decimated remains of a Goa'uld stronghold. It appeared to have been gutted from the inside.

"What happened there?"

"Unknown at this time, whoever attacked it left behind nearly no evidence of their identity. Four Alkesh, two Tel'tacs, and nearly a thousand pounds of refined weapons grade naquadah were reportedly stolen from the facility. Along with the removal of two sarcophagus', plus all Jaffa were found stripped of weapons and any technology that was not built directly into the stronghold was taken. The only clue that may lead to their identity is this." With that the Tok'ra altered the image to show a flagpole that was situated ten meters from the Stargate, it looked out of place since the Goa'uld had no need for flags. That wasn't the only thing that made it strange.

As soon as he glanced at it Jacob let out a low pained moan as he saw the standard. Almost as one every Tok'ra in the room turned to look at him. "Do you recognize the symbol that adorns the flag?"

"Yes, I do."

"What does it represent?" Garshaw demanded.

"It's the Jolly Roger flag, historically it was used by pirates. Since none of your recognized it I'm betting that the SGC has decided to no longer simply explore Goa'uld worlds its now raiding them for any usable materials and ships."

10101010101010

"Dammit!" Major Carter cursed as she tossed down a stripped down MA5B, one of the weapons that Xander Harris had let her experiment on. So far she had tried over twenty-seven variations on ballistic materials in order to find the correct combination that would create demon killer ammunition. So far none of them had worked.

"Hey, be careful with that." Cortana said as she reappeared in the Holo-tank. Currently she was busy redesigning an orbital weapons platform, something like Cairo Station, only this one had to be able to have internal reactors, shields, enhanced sensors, point defense, and dozens of other improvements over the original design. Not to mention she was trying to remove that pesky need to re-orientate the entire station to fire the SuperMAC, so far unsuccessfully.

"Sorry, this just frustrating." Carter apologized as she turned to a nearby computer station and began to type in some more mathematical formulas, attempting to see if she could come up with the required combination on her twenty-eight attempt.

"I got it!" Linda Pryce shouted as she stood up from her computer station, arms raised above her head in victory.

"What, got what?" Carter demanded.

"I have a report here on an effective demon killer bullet. A Vatican team used them before against vampires, werewolves and a dozen other demon races. Its now standard for them all. Silver ammo rounds made from a melted down blessed silver cross, apparently it's next to useless for armor penetration but since demons don't wear armor it can work until we come up with something better."

"About damn time." Cortana murmured as she shifted a few processor cycles towards acquiring a steady supply of silver. It wasn't a cheap metal and it was heavy, it was going to cost a significant amount of money to set up an ammo production line. Not to mention they had to find a priest willing to bless each and every cross. This was still going to take time to set up properly.

Janna Kalderash tossed down a heavy tome that she had been perusing, some of the books that she had were just too fragile and deadly to attempt scanning into the computer's databanks. After the whole event with Moloch there were a few books that she had gotten Xander to seal inside a cement block that was now buried underneath Alpha Base. "Now that that is done, you mind filling us in on what you've been up to lately Cortana?"

"I've been busy working out what technologies can be released as open source to avoid causing any more disruption to the world economy. Plus I've been redesigning Cairo station, a multi-million ton space fortress to make it easier to be mass produced."

"What?" Major Carter choked. "You're designing what?"

"Gather around and see." Cortana smirked as she disappeared from the holo-tank and another image took her place. The new fortress measured in at just under four miles in height, most of it devoted to the SuperMAC barrel, the rest of the station was a ring shaped platform that contained fighter bays, missile racks, point defense systems, heavy gun emplacements, quarters, power generators, and dozens of other things that were vital to the protection of a starbase. Xander had made her watch hundreds of hours of Star Trek and asked if she could incorporate some of the stuff from the show into the new design. She had considered it and added a few elements, an external dry-dock framework was currently being added to one side.

"Whoa, that's massive." Carter stated dumbly, her mind a little overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the design.

"Well from my projections, given enough prep time, Nova Terra should be able to have one of them fully built within seven months. It might eat into their warship production capability for a month or two but given how many people the Government has slated for the colony it shouldn't be too big of delay."

101010101010

Major Ferretti stared out his office window. Two retrieval teams had just reported in, one of them managing to seize yet more Alkesh for the rapidly growing space fleet of the fledgling colony, the other team having even more success by managing to grab a number of spacecraft along with a shipment of naquadah. So far they had eighty-six Alkesh as part of the defense forces, a hundred and twelve Tel'tacs, most of them equipped with cloaks, to be used in the ever growing merchant fleet making the runs between Earth and Nova Terra.

A knock at his door brought him out of his thoughts. Knowing that Astrid had already gone home for the night, something that he wished longingly to do, he sat behind his desk and barked. "Come!"

The figure that walked through the door caused him to shoot to his feet and salute. "General Hammond!"

"At ease Major."

"Yes sir. I wasn't expecting you for another three weeks sir." Ferretti began.

"Understandable, unfortunately things on Earth are coming to a head. I'm sure you've been watching the news reports that have made it out here."

"Yes sir, we're a little isolated but we still manage to get a few of the cargo ships to bring back some recordings of the news, but we're probably not getting the whole picture. We've had a few cases of 'freak outs' among the civvies, some of the psych types think it's a delayed reaction to the fact that they're no longer on Earth but its nothing that we can't handle." Ferretti said as he shuffled a few papers around on his desk. He was a little uncomfortable being the one seated behind the desk but until General Hammond took over command of the Nova Terra SGC he was in nominal command of the military forces on planet. It was weird since he was only a Major and there were at least twelve Colonels on world at any given moment. The rank structure of the SGC was a quagmire at the best of times, right now it wasn't anywhere near the best of times.

"Sir, if I may be so bold but has there been any word from Colonel O'Neill?"

"That's one of the other reasons why I'm here. Reports out of Sunnydale have been less than encouraging, less than two hours into the mission ten men were killed due to mines and the entire Sunnydale National Guard Depot was razed to the ground by forces unknown."

"General, request permission to return to Earth and join up with Colonel O'Neill." Major Ferretti said.

"Denied."

"General!" Ferretti protested.

"Denied Major and that is final. I've already authorized more troops to head out to Sunnydale along with a group of medics. A request came through, approved by the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff by the way, for Xander Harris to be given permission to store non-mission critical materials off world here at Nova Terra along with a family that is important to him. In exchange he has offered to release a wide range of advanced technology to the United States, everything from munitions, armor, starships, medicines and orbital weapons platforms. Currently he's offering more than what is needed so we're still waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Sir, I don't understand. Any of this could have been sent by courier, why did you come yourself?"

"That's the kicker isn't it? Apparently young Mr. Harris has decided that he would like to transport his materials by ship, so I've come to get a Tel'tac to be flown on a covert mission to retrieve said materials. Also at the same time you are to prepare suitable housing for the McNally family, a simple four bedroom house would suffice if any are available."

"We have the space available, there'll be some grumbling over favoritism since a lot of people are still living in the pre-fab barracks. Construction of houses is still playing catch up, we're moving them up the priority list but we do have a shortage of people that can actually build. Carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers are at an all time high demand. Most of the ones that we do have are from the Army Corps and they're busy with the military projects."

"I'll see what I can do back on Earth to get you more people with the proper skill sets but until then you'll just have to make do."

"Yes sir."

"Now what is this scoreboard that I keep hearing about?" General Hammond asked with a twinkle in his eye.

'Oh Christ, how the hell did he ever hear about it.' Was all that Ferretti managed to think. "Well its like this sir, the retrieval teams are somewhat competitive, each of them always touting out how much material or ships they managed to capture or destroy. It got to the point where fistfights were starting to break out between the various teams so I had someone over in Intel assign an arbitrary numerical to each piece of known technology. The scoreboard is simply that, a tally of each team's success's in the field put up on the board for everyone to follow. In order to ensure that they don't take stupid risks we've come up with a few rules to keep everyone in check."

10101010101010

Angelus stalked through the cavern that had become his hiding place from the constant raids by the whelp. Every day brought news of yet another foray into the tunnel system that crisscrossed its way underneath the town, even when it appeared as if the meddling humans had withdrawn for the day any vampire that was stupid enough to wander into the tunnels that had been cleared found itself lucky if it got out of there without setting off any of the numerous myriad of boobytraps that were routinely left behind.

"How does he continue to live?" Angelus snarled as he shoved a fledgling vampire out of his way.

"Well he's always in that armor of his and let's face it mate you're strong but not that strong. Plus every time he's gotten close you've turned tail and run for the hills." Spike commented as he sat at a table with his feet resting on the polished surface.

"Don't irritate me William, or need I remind you of your place." Angelus said evilly as he stalked over to his irritating childe. "I can still remember all those years ago when you tried to resist me, you fought oh so hard but in the end I was still the dominate one. Care to try your luck again?"

Spike glared as his Sire, knowing damn well that he couldn't challenge Angelus openly without losing more than just the fight. He'd end up being raped by the bastard again and if there was one thing he didn't want to be it was raped by the sick fuck who just loved to inflict pain on anything that didn't bow to him. To see proof of that all he had to do was look at the young cheerleader that Angelus had brought in as a play toy. After two weeks of continuous torture and gang rapes by the dozens of vampires had joined up with them her mind was completely shattered.

Cordelia Chase lay on the cold stone floor of the cavern, her arms wrapped around her legs as she rocked gently back and forth muttering nonsense, talking to beings that only her shattered mind could see. Her eyes had been removed at the end of the third day, Angelus having grown tired of staring into the pools of hate that emanated from the spirited woman.

After that the enraged vampire had begun to inflict other wounds on her body, removing fingers, toes, stabbing her with railroad spikes through the genitals and other places. Only through the prodigious use of healing magic had the woman 'survived' this long. Though in no way could she be really considered alive, her mind was long since shattered beyond repair. Her inability to care for herself in anyway was rapidly making Angelus lose what remaining interest he had in her.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15.

PX2-768

The squad ghosted through the heavy forest, making no sound as they passed through the brush. Their clothing specially made for blending into the natural background of a forest, augmented by the gillie suits that they wore on top of the already camouflaged clothing. For two days they had made their way through the mountains, no transmissions, no talking, nothing to give away their location as they moved closer and closer to their objective.

Stopping on a ridgeline overlooking the valley floor, one of them turned to the group and using a series of complicated and intricate hand signals passed out the orders.

Dropping to the ground the sniper of the group moved with care as he slowly edged his way to the ridgeline. Taking out a set of binoculars, tinted to prevent any glare from sunlight glancing off the glass he slowly scanned the valley floor looking for the targets. Seeing them he activated his throat mike. "Sarge, two targets. One at ten o'clock, the other dead at noon."

"Roger that, confirm acquisition of primary target?"

"Target alpha sitting pretty at noon."

"Understood, wait for my go."

"Roger that, holding."

Sergeant Samuel Peterson turned to the other members of his Spec-ops squad and gave the order. "Alright, Target Alpha is here, just like the Intel pukes said. Assemble the firecracker."

"Roger that." Corporal Waters replied as she unslung her backpack; glad to be able to get rid of the extra fifty pounds that she had been lugging around since the drop off two days ago. "Harper, you're the techie get your ass over here and help me."

"I'm a specialist, not a techie."

"I don't care, just get it operational or I'll leave your ass out here." Peterson stated as he glared at the three commandos. Well really two commandos and one specialist that had been forced on him for the mission. The rest of the group was spreading out over the ridgeline, watching for Jaffa patrols, and listening with a half an ear to the truly awe inspiring half muttered rant that the specialist was going on about. Thankfully he was remembering to keep it down, but it was truly something of legend to listen to and learn from.

"Sir, are we really going to do this?" A young private asked in a low tone.

"Son, we have our orders. Now just do your job."

"Yes sir." The private answered mournfully. He knew that this was a nessecary in the war against the Goa'uld System Lords he just wished that that they had picked a more obscure target.

For twenty minutes the squad sat on the ridgeline as the specialist worked on the device, putting all the parts into the correct slots. One of the most complicated pieces of purely human designed and constructed technology, one that if you screwed up would turn you into a vapor, which meant the specialist had to do his job perfectly.

"Sir, it's ready." Specialist Krueger whispered as he handed over the arming key.

Peterson nodded in reply, taking the key and slinging it around his neck with the handy chain that it came with, and clicked his radio on. "Prepare to move out. Scouts, move on ahead."

A series of clicks was his only reply. Even after ten years with the team he still could not pick them out of a tree line as the scouts crept forward and disappeared into the brush. The two scouts of the squad had been trained by the best, both of them having taken the training for Delta Force. In the end though neither of them had passed the final requirements which were shrouded in secrecy that some thought the whole unit was nothing more than a myth. A story propagated by the administration to scare the shit out of the enemy.

Private First Class Jenkins slid across the forest floor. 'Well this is different.' He thought to himself as he glanced through a gap in the foliage. From his vantage point he could see the Stargate standing tall and proud in the middle of the clearing surrounded by at least twenty Jaffa, their helmet design not matching anything in the warbook. Deciding to take this opportunity to gather some more intelligence on the Jaffa Jenkins began to commit the design to memory for a debriefing to occur later with the Intel boys.

On the other side of the clearing the second scout slithered into a pile of brush from a fallen tree and began to make her own observations about the enemy encampment. Within seconds she had memorized the layout, eidetic memories were a blessing in the service, taking particular note of the Sto'lek class transport on the north side of the field. From where she sat she could see at least a dozen Jaffa loading materials onto it.

Glancing upward she noticed that the sun was starting to set, meaning she still had several hours before the attack would happen. Settling into wait she began to assign herself priority targets since as a scout she also doubled as team sniper. As soon as the order was given she would have to take out any Jaffa that had a brain, or seemed to be in charge, which would remove any chances of them using effective tactics to resist the attack.

101010101

Jan 9th, 1998 Sunnydale, California

Xander walked down the metal steps from his private apartment and into the main library that had been constructed on top of the armory. Being based inside a warehouse, measuring in at 500ft by 500ft, gave one a lot of room to build internal rooms not just on the ground floor but above those same rooms as well. The housing section as he liked to call it was just the old converted office space of the building, which was nestled into the corner of the building.

Deciding to add onto the section he had built the vault, where artifacts and other dangerous recovered materials were kept, and the armory as extension wings from the apartment on the first floor. After they had been built Janna had been the one to suggest building upwards as well as outwards so the library as it had come to be known was built directly on top of the armory. In a fit of nostalgia he had added in a conference table inside the library section, though rarely used up to this point, it was now the main meeting place for the SG team leaders and Xander.

"So what's the word Colonel?" Xander asked as he came into the room. For once he wasn't wearing his armor, having decided to let Cortana's remotes have a chance to look it over and attempt to repair a few small problems. Not to mention it needed to be aired out and cleaned somewhat.

"Same as last night Harris. We still don't have any leads on where this vampire of yours is." Colonel O'Neill replied as he tossed the latest report onto the table.

"Angelus is not the smartest vampire out there but he does have his moments. Not to mention with Drusilla on his team its damn near impossible to catch them unaware." Janna mentioned as she looked up from the tome she was perusing.

"What's so special about Drusilla?" Daniel Jackson, newly arrived from Colorado, asked curiously.

"She is one of four vampires who made up what was known as the Scourge of Europe. Probably one of the most deadly group of vampires in modern history, with her abilities as a seer they were able to stay ahead of most hunters and also find targets of opportunity that dealt extremely harsh blows to the Gypsy clans." Janna answered. Drusilla's history was well known to her. "Though her powers are not infallible, she was incapable of predicting that Angelus would in fact be cursed with his soul by my clan in retribution for his crimes."

"That's an idea." Jack stated suddenly.

"What?" Janna asked.

"Why can't we just re-curse him again?" Jack questioned.

"Because a re-soulment curse is black magic, which has its own effects on a person, not to mention it has certain requirements which I cannot meet." Janna answered honestly. "Plus, I'm simply not powerful enough in that sense to rip a soul out of its afterlife and to confine it within a vampire's body."

"Oh, so it's an issue of power?" Daniel questions. He was still trying to come to terms with the notion that magical abilities existed. Now that he considered it, it would make a long of archeological discoveries over the centuries make a bit more sense in terms of curses and rituals that the ancient peoples might have practiced.

"Not just power, but the ability to cast black magic. Many people who do so find out later in life that the price it demands of you is not something that they wish to pay. It usually costs you your life or soul." Xander clarifies as he looks up from the reports that he was reading. "That's why I vetoed the idea when we first translated the curse."

"Xander, I managed to get the information that you requested." Cortana said as she projected herself onto one of the many computer screens that dotted the library conference room. "You were right, there is a pattern forming. The vampire groups that we've run into all seem to be falling back onto a series of caverns that are centered around a particular tunnel system that extends far outside of Sunnydale and may in fact stretch as far as Los Angeles."

"That would explain a few things." Xander muttered as he stared at the map projected on another screen.

"Namely how they get reinforcements up here without them having to travel over land." Major Castleman expanded upon. "This map looks different from the one we have."

"I borrowed the NSA satellite again to search outside the town's limits to see how far the tunnel system actually went. After the scans were complete I added it to the original map, which now has all the tunnels in Sunnydale plus a fifty mile radius outside the town limits." Cortana answered. "You should really tell them to get some better security on that thing."

Jack rubbed his forehead wearily wondering how he was going to explain to General Hammond that Cortana had yet again stolen a NSA satellite. Though in retrospect it was somewhat amusing to hear the raving lunacy that 'No Such Agency' control got into when one of their precious Keyhole's went missing.

"Once again, not commenting on the theft of United States property." Major Castleman stated, talking over Cortana's heated 'Borrowed' at the word theft. "What are we going to do?"

"I think its time we collapsed some of those tunnels. That should cut off any reinforcements that they're trying to sneak in." Xander said. Getting up he walked over to the screen and highlighted several locations. "These spots here seem to be the main choke points, if we can collapse the tunnels at these points it'll force them to find another route into Sunnydale. One that we can intercept above ground."

"Agreed, though how are we going to get into those areas. They're heavily infested with vampires and I don't think we could force it without taking heavy casualties." Frank argued. "Our Intel consists of nothing more than a detailed map of the internal caverns but we have no way of knowing how many vampires and demons are waiting down there for us. We have no numbers on weapons, positions, materials or anything and from what I can read off that map it's so crisscrossed with corridors that we'd be outflanked the instant we moved into there."

"That's some good points. I don't know, I really don't know how to answer any of those." Xander confessed. He might have all of John-117's memories when it came to planning combat strategies but most of them were entrenched around the need to have fellow Spartan-II's to use as the actual soldiers. The United States military was great in its roles but it wasn't up to the Spartan's level. Not to mention they didn't have quite the same resilience to weapons fire that a Spartan had, at least when inside their armor.

"We need more information." Sgt Major Sandra Gale said from her position at the table.

"Well I'm open to suggestions on how to get it. Willy only knows so much and I think his usefulness has run its course. From what I got out of him last night no one tells him anything any more since most of the demons in town know that whatever he knows ends up being what I know." Xander replied. He was actually surprised that no one had attempted to use Willy yet to feed him disinformation.

"What about Mr. Giles?" Linda Pryce suggested as she walked into the room. Just arriving from a private communication with the Watchers Council who were rather upset over the continuing presence of United States military personnel on the Hellmouth. Though her rather vocal report that she couldn't very well get them to leave all by herself was something that had irritated them, resulting in the conversation turning into little more than a shouting match.

"What about him?" Xander asked.

"You may not work with him all that much anymore, or not at all from your expression, but he may still have contacts within the community that may be of some assistance." Linda said. As she was talking she could see the face that crossed Xander's face, one of utter distaste. Months of wearing his armor had somewhat degraded his ability to control his emotional cues somewhat. Though he was rapidly regaining that skill once it had been pointed out to him by Faith a few nights ago.

"What contacts could he possibly have? Besides it's not like he's been a lot of help anyway. I warned them over two weeks ago that Angelus was back and I have yet to hear a damn thing from them on the matter." Xander argued.

"I'm not sure exactly but what I do remember from reading his file that he was well connected some of the more peaceful demon clans back in Great Britain, it may be that some of his connections are still valid even over here."

"Fine, we'll go 'talk' to him but I'm not betting on this working out." Xander conceded mostly because he had a secondary agenda to pursue at the school. "Colonel, I was wondering if I could have a word with you in private?"

Frowning a bit Jack nodded in response. The two men left the room, heading for the supposed privacy of Harris's private apartments to talk.

101010

"Ok Harris, what's so secretive that you couldn't talk about it in there?" O'Neill demanded once they had sat down in the comfortably furnished living room.

"I've been debating over whether to expand my operations. Right now I only have Janna, and Cortana of course, as part of my team here in Sunnydale. That doesn't give me a lot of strategic depth right which is what prompted all this."

"Still don't see where you're going with this."

"I'm going to bring in two people, their files are on the table, and I wanted to inform you that instead of training them here I was planning on sending them to Nova Terra."

"Now just wait a minute. The administration agreed to let you move some equipment, and the McNally family, but they never said that they were going to let you start moving people out there wholesale."

"Jack, you seem to be under the impression that I'm asking for permission. I'm just giving you notice that I'm doing it anyway. Either you let me send them to Nova Terra or I hijack the gate and send them anyway." Xander stated. "When that cargo ship arrives tomorrow I plan on putting them on it for the return trip to Nova Terra."

"Ok, just for the sake of this argument, let's say that I agree with you. Why these two? Neither of them has any skills that I can see." O'Neill said as he opened the first file and began leafing through it.

"Amy is a mildly powerful witch in her own right and Jonathan is a guy who seems to have some knowledge of what's really going on here in town. It's important that no matter what happens that Nova Terra retains some knowledge of the supernatural beyond a few mentions buried in a report on some pencil pusher's desk. If I can get them out there, and get the trained then they can get further generations aware of the danger. Plus they're both good friends of mine and I'd prefer to get them out of town.

"I'm sure we could swing a few more people but I don't think President Whitmore is going to like it if you make this into a habit." Jack conceded.

"Oh, their families go too." Xander replied.

"Anything else?"

"Not yet." Xander smirked before leaving the room.

"Just great, what's he gonna ask for next?" Jack muttered as he leaned back to read the file. After reading it for about twenty minutes Jack tossed it back on the coffee table and leaned back in the comfortable couch rubbing his eyes lightly as he tried to come to grasp with an idea that he had. Finally deciding that he could do it he reached over and picked up the phone off a nearby table. Dialing a number that he knew by heart he waited as it rang and rang.

"Hello?" A woman's voice came over the line.

"Sara, its Jack. I was wondering if we could talk?"

101010101

"So did you and Angel get together last night?" Willow practically gushed as she cornered Buffy outside her locker. She was rather ecstatic that the winter break was finally over and that she could return to her classes.

"Willow!" Buffy shushed her as she looked around to make sure no one was listening in.

"Well?"

"He came over after patrol and we talked." Buffy confided.

"Talked or _'talked'_?" Willow smirked as she put the heavy inflection on the word.

"Maybe a bit of both." Buffy said blushing to the roots.

Willow felt herself blushing as she tried to get the nerve to ask the next question. "Was it good?"

"Willow!" Buffy screeched drawing the attention of more than a few people who were heading for their classes.

101010

_"Tragedy struck today when a young man was brutally gunned down outside Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. The full details have not been released at this time but what we do have for you paints a grim picture. Ben Wilkinson had recently graduated and was attempting to complete his internship here at the hospital behind be when one night after work he was heading home when two young men apparently accosted him.'_

_"These men demanded that he turn over his paycheck and when he refused they shot him several times at point blank range. Police managed to recover a tape from the hospitals security cameras, and while we have obtained a copy of the tape in question it will not be aired. Police agencies have requested that we not broadcast it in case of potentially weakening their case. If anyone has any information on this brutal attack police are urging you to please contact them at the toll free number below."_

1010101

_"This is Andrea Thompson, CNN, reporting live from Miami Dade where riots have broken out all over the city for the past few nights. At this time the exact reasons for said riots still remains unclear but according to local authorities, many involved seem to be illegal Cuban immigrants protesting the recent decisions by Congress and the President to abolish the wet feet, dry feet policy. Many residents of the state of Florida have stated that this law is long overdue claiming a yearly rise in crime influenced by the illegal immigrant population as the main source of criticism behind the policy. Cuban community leaders have decried the move saying that the racists policies of the United States government reflect its long tradition of oppression of the Cuban people._

_Just moments ago a convoy of National Guardsmen rolled into town to assist the beleaguered local authorities by providing a badly needed influx of bodies to plug holes in their plans to secure the streets from the roving gangs of thugs that have locked the city in a reign of terror."_

1010101

_"I'm standing outside on of the newly constructed Border Tactical Response Centers where nearly six hundred law enforcement recruits are about to begin training in techniques of how to respond to an alert of an illegal border crossing. While they're primary purpose is to detain and deport anyone attempting to cross the border via illegal means due to some cross funding with various other agencies they will also be watching for illegal narcotics, materials, weapons, cars, and human slaves that are brought across the border in ever increasing amounts each year. When not working at the center's themselves the agents will be on loan to local and state agencies as surplus officers for any emergency that may occur."_

101010101

_"I don't know if you can hear me John but the Border Patrol has intercepted another shipment of illegal drugs that attempted to cross the border about six minutes ago. They were alerted by an anonymous source who phoned in the tip nearly four hours before the shipment was due to arrive. This should have allowed the Federal authorities enough time to set up a cordon that the shipment would be unable to penetrate but what they didn't plan on was that the shipment was guarded by seven Mexican Army personnel still in uniform. At the moment both sides are still exchanging fire here at the border, though there has been a lot of tension from the Mexican authorities on their side of the border which has lead to some believing that they will attempt to interfere if this goes on much longer."_

101010101

_"Fort Bragg, North Carolina, probably one of the most heavily watched military bases in the world. For over two decades it has long been rumored to be the purported home base of the near mythical Special Forces unit known to the world only as Delta Force. Civilian agencies, and foreign intelligence agencies have a long history of attempting to ascertain if this claim is true and the common response from the Pentagon is anything from Classified, Need to Know or some more vocal and vulgar comments that are not fit for broadcast under FCC regulations. But today this base has undergone a change, last night under the cover of a moonless night nearly 1,000 men up and vanished. At this time there has been no official word from the White House on just where this military unit deployed to, or if it's even just a military exercise. What is known that this is not the first such Special Forces unit to go 'missing' under these types of circumstances, but at this time we have been unable to learn where. The Pentagon has said that the civilian world has no need to be informed of purely military concerns about the movement of troops and that the Freedom of Information Act does not apply under these circumstances."_

101010101

Pulling the Humvee to a stop outside Sunnydale High School Xander put the large armored vehicle into park and just stared at the building resting his chin on his folded forearms on top of the steering wheel. "A few months ago I would have been just like one of them. Irritated that I have to get back to my studies after the winter break, wishing all the time for any reason to not to have to go to school and now look at me. I'm fighting a war that could very well decide the fate of mankind, I've lost almost all my friends to it and I would give anything just to be another one of the faceless masses who doesn't know."

"If you're looking for sympathy you're probably talking to the wrong man." Colonel O'Neill said. In truth he understood to a degree what Harris was talking about. All soldiers had that moment where they wondered at one point, why them? Why were they the ones who had to do the job they did?

"I know. I just wonder sometimes what life would have been like if I didn't go as the Master Chief that night."

"It's best not to dwell on it kid, it'll just drive you nuts in the long run. Either that or make you take a stupid risk while on mission that'll end up getting you killed."

"True."

"So have you given any more thought on how you're going to convince those two to agree to go off world?"

"Well for Jonathan I thought I'd just tell him that if he goes off world for training he'd be in a place where the female to male population is about even and he'd have a better chance of getting laid." Xander smirked.

"That's got to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard."

"Yup."

"Got a real plan?" O'Neill pressed

"I'm thinking of going with the truth. Based on the info that Cortana was able to find, Jonathan already has some knowledge about the supernatural and it shouldn't be that hard to get him to believe in extraterrestrials. I mean if you believe in demons why the hell wouldn't you be able to handle the belief in little green men."

"The Asgard are gray, not green."

"I know that, but I'm betting there's someone else out there that's green."

"Well I know of one species that bleeds green, does that count?" Colonel O'Neill quipped.

"Like Predator?"

"Kind of."

"Cool."

"Sir, are you sure we should be in uniform for this?" Major Carter asked.

"Yes, Carter. If we're going to convince these two that we're actually telling the truth the uniform will help." O'Neill answered. Glancing out the window he noticed the other Humvee pulling into the parking space beside them.

"C'mon lets get this show on the road." Xander muttered as he got out of the Humvee. He wasn't wearing a uniform per se; since the UNSC didn't exist in this universe there was no point in recreating its uniform, so he'd decided to wear a simple set of BDU's that were enough to let him feel like the soldier that he was. He had grown accustomed to wearing them around Alpha Base whenever he wasn't in armor, even though he was finding that he was slowly growing into the custom of wearing the MJOLNIR suit at all times like any other Spartan. 'Good thing I don't have a problem with claustrophobia.'

It was close to noon when Xander and the rest came to Sunnydale High School, it lessened the chance of being seen outside by others, but there were still a fair number of students wandering around the courtyard. Most of them stopped what they were doing to gap openly at the small entourage that was following Xander as they moved into the school. Not only was he dressed like a military officer but also the fact that following alongside, and behind, him was seven others dressed up in various types of military uniforms and civilian clothing.

"Colonel, this seems a little public?" Lieutenant Hailey mentioned as she followed along with the group. She had been one of the group to arrive last night along with Dr. Jackson and some reinforcements.

"Don't worry about it Lieutenant. This visit is covered officially and unofficially; if anyone asks just point him or her in my direction or Major Castleman's. Just remember the cover story." O'Neill replied as he glanced around the campus as they walked. Decades of Spec Ops training took over so easily; already he had noticed half a dozen places that a sniper could have set up. Within a minute he had picked out an even dozen escape routes that could be used to cover nearly any contingency and he'd bet dollars to donuts that Castleman had several of his own.

"Yes sir." Hailey muttered. She was still curious about how she had gotten this assignment, the last thing she'd heard was that she was being transferred out to Nova Terra to join the Prometheus Project and the next second she was on a cargo plane hading for Los Angeles.

"Man, this brings back some old memories." Faith commented as she took in the campus. It was so much 'cleaner' than the pit that she used to go to school in.

"Old, you're not even seventeen." Hailey said.

"Was just saying."

"You're not old enough to make the comment 'old memories'." Hailey continued.

"Yeah, well you ain't that much older."

"Faith, use proper English." Linda scolded lightly.

"Sorry Linda." Faith muttered. It was kind of nice the way that Linda had taken one look at schools in Boston and declared them all the decrepit cesspools unfit to train a slug let alone a bright young woman like herself. It had been the very same day that Linda had said that she was going to begin home schooling her.

"Harris!" A snidely little weasel of a voice carried over to the group. Turning almost as one to see who was talking they observed the trollish little man in a suit marching their way.

"Just what do you think you're doing on this campus?"

"And you are?" O'Neill questioned when it appeared that Harris wasn't going to do anything other than glare at the man.

"I'm Principal Snyder, and I want all of you off this campus immediately. I will not allow a bunch of hooligans to have the run of this campus when they feel the need to illegally impersonate military officers, I'm pretty sure that's a felony so run along before I report it to the authorities."

"We are legitimate officers in the United States Military. I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, this is Major Carter…" O'Neill began.

"I don't care who you believe you are, get off this property immediately and take this person with you." Snyder sneered as he pointed a finger at Xander who was just standing there with a little smirk on his face. "If you hadn't already dropped out, I'd have you expelled and arrested Mr. Harris, but I'll settle for barring you from ever setting foot on this property again. I always knew you were a troublemaker, from the first day I laid eyes on you I knew that you would bring nothing but disgrace down on yourself. Just like your father."

Faith wasn't the only one who picked up on the way Xander suddenly went tense, the muscles in his face contracting to the point where they looked like they were literally going to break. His hands were clenching at his sides and she suddenly found herself glad that he hadn't brought any obvious weapons with him or else this little troll of a man would probably be lying face down on the grass with half a dozen bullets in him.

O'Neill slowly reached up and removed his sunglasses, his eyes harder than obsidian, two decades of experience with Air Force Spec Ops giving him the glare that cowed the man in front of him into silence. When he spoke, his voice was so cold that those nearby could swear they felt an artic chill. "I'm going to give you thirty seconds to apologize, I suggest you do so. Now."

Snyder for once actually stopped his tirade and glanced around, noticing that he was almost completely surrounded by people in military uniforms and that all of them were glaring at him. The big man in the Marine dress uniform was smiling and the mere sight of it was enough to make his bowels clench in sheer terror.

"Who are you people?"

"That wasn't an apology." The young woman in what he usually termed 'slut' clothing commented.

"I won't be talked to by some streetwalker." Snyder sneered.

Major Castleman looked at the little troll like figure, the man's napoleon complex made some of the Goa'uld look well adjusted. Having had enough he stepped forward into the man's personal space, interrupting the comments he was getting ready to spew at Faith. "Sir, permission to beat the crap out of his man?"

O'Neill looked at Harris and Faith for a split second and then at Snyder's rapidly paling face. Before he could even do more than smirk Snyder gave a small shudder and everyone's gaze slowly moved downward to see a wet stain growing rapidly on the front of the despicable little mans trousers. "Not right now Major, I don't feel like getting urine all over my uniform. Now Mr. Snyder, you are going to walk away and you're never going to bother us again, or else the good Major here is going to have a nice long chat with you. Is that understood or do I need to use smaller words?"

"Understood." Snyder meekly answered.

"Good, then get out of here."

Snyder took the opportunity given and ran off, the distinctive lurch in his steps had confirmed the smell that O'Neill's sensitive nose had picked up on. He had crapped himself. Laughing quietly O'Neill turned back to the group and noticed the looks on most of their faces. 'Yup, they all figured it out.'

"How did that man ever get a job as Headmaster of a school?" Linda asked, completely aghast at the totally unprofessional behavior of the man.

"The last one got, uhh, eaten." Xander replied as he began walking off. The back of his neck flushing a deep red.

"Eaten? There's more to that story isn't there?" Carter questioned as she walked after him, the group following along behind her.

Castleman looked like he was going to voice his own opinion on the subject before O'Neill stopped him with a look. "Don't, you don't want to know. Trust me on that, I didn't."

The large group walked through the semi-deserted halls of Sunnydale High School, en route to the one class that both Jonathan and Amy shared hence the chosen time for their arrival at the school. The only unfortunate thing to this from Xander's perspective was that it was the computer class and since Janna had quit over the Christmas break there was a good chance that Willow had been pressed into service as an intermittent teacher until the school board could come up with someone more permanent.

Glancing into the room that had once held his favorite class Xander had a quick flashback to all the fantasies that he used to have about jenny calendar and her long legs. Chuckling quietly he could remember all the times he'd just sit in his chair, in the back of the room of course, and just try to imagine what the young woman's legs looked like under her long skirts. Shaking himself back to the present he turned to the group and noticed the peculiar look on Faith's face, promising himself to ask her about it later he said. "Ok this is the room. Who's going in first?"

"I'll do it." O'Neill muttered. Moving up to the door he took a deep breath and opened it.

Willow was standing at the front of the class going over the finer points of typing, how to position your fingers on the keyboard properly and how to maintain a good typing rate when the classroom door opened to admit an older man in a uniform. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, United States Air Force. I'm looking for two of your students. Jonathan Levinson and Amy Madison, I need to speak to them about several things so the rest of you get out."

"Excuse me?" Willow gasped. "Listen mister, you can't just barge in here and take over my class."

"You're not a teacher so I think I can, my uniform and rank let me do this, and I will be reporting this school to the California Education Board. So unless you want your name included in that report I think it would be in your best interest to get out." O'Neill said talking directly over the redhead's protests as he moved to the front of the classroom, the rest of his group filing in behind him.

Buffy was the first to notice who was in the middle of the group. "Xander!"

Willow turned to look and found him standing in the middle of the group of people that had walked in, wearing a set of BDU's trying to look like a soldier instead of the teenager that he was. Marching right up to the young man she swept back her hand ready to slap some sense into him when she felt her arm grabbed in a grip that exceeded Buffy's.

"I don't think so girlie." Faith whispered as she twisted the redhead's arm behind her back. "Now I think you owe Xander here an apology for trying to hit him."

"Let go of me you slut!" Willow screeched as she tried to wrestle her arm loose but there was absolutely no give in the grip. She couldn't believe it, she had managed to get out of Buffy's grip time after time but with this woman she couldn't so much as budge a millimeter.

"Hey, let her go!" Buffy shouted as she tromped up to the group.

"Faith, release her." Major Carter ordered. Inwardly she was cheering the young woman on but for now they had to play nice with the locals.

"Fine." Faith muttered as she shoved the redhead away with a bit more force than necessary.

Buffy grabbed Willow before she could hit the floor, glaring up at the men in uniform the whole time. She had a long history of distrust with those in uniform, thinking they were little better than thugs with a badge.

"As I said before, I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill and I'm looking for Jonathan Levinson and Amy Madison, the rest of you can leave. Class is dismissed." At this those in the room bolted for the door, not caring in the slightest why the military was here looking for those two.

"That means you two as well." Major Castleman drawled as he glanced over at the obviously bottle blonde and her friend.

"Hey, you can't come into my town and order us around."

"Your town? I didn't know you were the Queen of Sunnydale. I'm so sorry your majesty. Now get out." Xander interjected. He knew exactly what was getting to Buffy; it was the fact that she wasn't in complete control of the situation. She never could handle being told what to do by someone in a position of authority over her. 'In fact if she knew that they knew about demons she'd be stomping her foot saying 'I'm the Slayer, you have to do what I tell you.'

"You heard the man, you're not authorized to be in this room at the moment. Please leave or I'll be forced to 'remove' you myself." Major Castleman smiled evilly. 'Bottle blondes give real blondes a bad name. Thank god my daughter loves her natural hair color.'

Buffy stood there for a few seconds longer before she stomped out of the room, with a nearly visible black storm cloud over her head, with Willow following soon after when it became apparent that Xander wasn't going to speak to her either.

"Uhh Xander, what's going on?" Jonathan asked as he stood from behind his desk. He had sat there the whole time while Buffy threw her temper tantrum, a not uncommon sight at Sunnydale High, but now that she was gone he was curious as to why he had been asked to stay behind. Amy was in the room too, not speaking yet, but she was curious as to why the military was looking for her and Jonathan.

"Well I've decided to bring you guys in on something, something big." Xander said as he sat down on top of the desk that had at one time belonged to Jenny Calendar. "Now before you say anything I want you two to listen to the entire speech. It goes a little something like this."

"The world is older than you know…"

101010101010101010

White House, Washington D.C.

President Whitmore sat behind his desk, weary from all the hours that he had put in so far today and it wasn't even two in the afternoon. The life of the leader of one of the most powerful nations on the planet, and now the stars, was one that demanded a lot from a person. Demanded great personal sacrifices, time away from family, away from the pleasurable activities of just skipping work for a day to spend it relaxing on the back porch with a beer in hand and a good book to read.

"Sir?"

"Sorry, what was that?" Whitmore asked politely as he swallowed the yawn that threatened to break through.

"Quite alright sir, I was just referencing the continuing requests from Nova Terra that Major Ferretti has sent on up the chain. They need more supplies, equipment and most of all he needs more men." General Miles said.

"What's topping his list of requests?"

"Construction equipment sir. They have nearly half the population still living in pre-fab buildings sir, and the Corp of Engineers we've sent to them is splitting its time between building industry and building homes. It's at the point where a home is finished off per day but its still going to take quite a bit of time for it to break even." General Miles replied.

"Ok, how do we get some more construction equipment out to them to get homes and essential industry up and running within say the next month." Whitmore questioned.

"It's quantity vs. quality sir, we can throw bodies at them all we want but its not going to make much difference in the long run. Anyone who goes out there has to have a workable skill that can immediately be put to use in the construction field, not to mention we need farms for the next season and people to actually work on the farms as well. It's just going to take time to get everything up and running to the point of self-sufficiency, most of our analysts say it should be up by mid July." Admiral Alan Maitland commented.

"Well, find a way to get the needed resources out to them as soon as possible. Nova Terra is probably our last best hope to maintain Humanity's freedom from the Goa'uld and I'll be damned if I'm going to bow down to one of those damned accountants at the Senate. Find a way to do it without irritating them too much." President Whitmore ordered. "Also, I want you to recruit a few people to begin digitizing the Library of Congress for transport out to Nova Terra. Start with the books that contain information like medical, technologies and anything else that is useful, history can be saved till later."

"Yes sir. Though respectfully sir I do have to ask. Senator Kinsey, and the NID by association, has been fuming over their blanket denial of involvement with the Nova Terra project. A few of my people over at Intel have heard some rumors that Kinsey is threatening to go public with the program unless the NID is granted control over the Gate."

"Well then, I think Senator Kinsey is going to be greatly surprised at just what that rumor can do to one's career." President Whitmore said with a sly grin on his face. He had the same rumors nearly a week ago and had put plans into place already with a little help from NSA, FBI, and the CIA.

"In other news sir, NSA is demanding to know why we haven't done anything about the frequent 'thefts' of their Keyhole satellites."

"Those would be the ones being borrowed by Mister Harris and company correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Tell NSA to retask that satellite to remain positioned over California for the time being, Mister Harris can use it as his leisure. If he's been borrowing it often enough that its been spotted by the people over at the agency then he obviously needs it." Whitmore ordered. For a brief moment he considered ordering NASA to prepare to launch another dozen or so Keyhole class satellite's into space for a geosynchronous orbit over the United States but dismissed the idea for now, the budget was strained enough as it was hiding the war effort against the Goa'uld. "General Miles, the next time we have a Tel'tac in the system have it pick up some Keyholes from the storage yards and deposit them in orbit before it leaves again."

"Yes sir." General Miles replied.

10101010

_"This is Val Keating reporting live from NID Headquarters in Washington D.C. For those of you who are just joining us, an hour ago the Army pulled up in force with armored personnel carriers, Humvee's and even a few tanks. They have laid 'siege' to the building and are demanding the unconditional surrender of all persons within the building, if no surrender is forthcoming within the next twenty minutes they have threatened to breach the building and use lethal force."_

10101010

"So what say you?" Xander asked. He had just talked for over an hour, probably one of the longest speeches that he had ever given in his entire life, and answered at least twenty questions from both Jonathan and Amy.

"You're really telling the truth on this. Aliens, aliens from outer space, not the aliens living in fear of INS?" Jonathan quipped. His mind was just racing a million miles a minute trying to process the information.

"Yes, real aliens, we've even met the race responsible for the Roswell Gray stories." Xander commented.

"I don't know Xander, I believe you, but this just seems to wild and fantastic. I mean why would you want a guy like me to go out there? I'm just a geek."

"Jon, let me put it to you this way. Nova Terra is a colony world, so there's going to be limited supplies, resources, and things to do." Xander said watching the look on Jonathans face slowly move towards distaste. "But it's probably going to have a lot of women who will appreciate a man with brains."

Seeing that the young man still looked a little bit apprehensive about traveling so far from Earth to remain on a world that he couldn't return from expect under very stringent conditions Hailey slowly walked toward him. She tried her best to emulate Faith's movements, swaying her hips back and forth, a seductive pout on her lips. Getting close enough that her breath could be felt on his cheek she slowly wet her lips and spoke. "I always appreciate a man with brains."

Jonathan audibly gulped. Stuttering he said. "I'll go."

Xander leaned back on the desk and slowly rubbed the sore spot on his forehead. 'My side of the species can be influenced by nothing more than T&A. God, that's depressing.'

Samantha Carter leaned over a bit to whisper to Major Castleman and Colonel O'Neill. "That was just plain evil."

O'Neill smirked. "Worked didn't it, maybe we should have her do all our recruiting for us?"

"At least all the guys." Castleman whispered in reply.

Amy Madison laughed at Jonathan's red and flushed face. 'Trust a guy to fall for a tits an ass type scheme like that.'

"So Amy, what do you say?" Xander asked curiously.

"I don't know, there's not much incentive to go really."

"Amy, you can stay here and possibly end up as vamp food or you can go to Nova Terra, learn magic far away from the negative influences of the Hellmouth, get paid a shit load of money for something you've been doing for free, and get to ogle some sweaty soldiers as they do their exercises." Faith said.

"I'm there." Amy replies quickly blushing like a schoolgirl.

"Well that settles that." Xander muttered. 'If the Goa'uld ever heard about this, we're screwed. To think the entire younger generation can be lead around by their hormones.'

"Ok, Castleman, Carter and Hailey, why don't you three escort our newest recruits to their homes and convince their parents that they need to join in on this little adventure of ours. While you do that, we're off to see the librarian." Jack ordered.

"Sir?"

"Too many people Carter, we're trying to get the guy to help us, if we all went it would look like a mini invasion with all of us there."

"Oh, ok." Carter agreed after a second of thinking about it. In retrospect the group did look a little large to be kept together for a simple meeting that could be handled by a smaller number. Besides like the Colonel said, it would take the rest of them to convince both Amy and Jonathan's families the truth about Nova Terra and the Gate.

"Have fun convincing the parents." Faith laughed as she followed the group out the classroom door.

"Yeah, right." Castleman muttered.

101010101010

"I'm telling you Giles, he has to be possessed or something. He came barging into the class and just told everyone to leave! Why would he do that, he's supposed to be my friend?" Buffy whined as she paced back and forth in front of the table in the library.

"And that army guy was so mean." Willow said. "He actually threatened to tell the school board on me if I didn't do what he said. He threatened ME!"

"Oh boohoo, that's so sad." Xander said as he came in through the library doors.

"Just what's the big idea coming back into my town and trying to order me around." Buffy demanded as she stood with her fists on her hips.

"Your town? Miss, you sure have some strange ideas. Its mayor and duly elected representatives run this town, after that it goes up the state level and after that the federal. At no point do I see a sign proclaiming Sunnydale, personal fiefdom of Buffy Summers. So shut it." O'Neill said as he stepped up beside Xander.

"Just who do you think you are?" Buffy demanded.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, United States Air Force."

"Xander, what is going on here?" Giles asked curiously as he came out of his office where he'd been taking refuge from the ranting that Buffy and Willow were doing. As he did so he wondered where this Army guy had gone that Willow had been fuming about a few seconds earlier. Given the way she was glaring at the Air Force officer Giles was betting good money that she had gotten the services mixed up somehow, strange considering how intelligent the girl was.

"Mr. Giles, I am Linda Pryce from the Watcher's Council, I'm here to ask you for your assistance in locating the vampire known as Angelus and his subsequent destruction."

"WHAT!" Buffy screeched loud enough to make everyone wince, especially those with enhanced hearing.

"You can't do that, Angel is a good man." Willow said.

"Uh, Angelus is a vampire in case you didn't know that and a vicious one at that." Faith mentioned as she joined the conversation.

"Just who the hell are you?" Willow demanded, sneering contemplatively at the young woman dressed in such trashy clothing. 'Wonder how many cows she had to kill to get that much leather.'

"I'm the Slayer." Faith answered honestly.

"I'm THE SLAYER!" Buffy screeched in reply.

"No, you're a Slayer, Faith is the Slayer. There is a distinct difference." Linda rebutted.

"Giles?" Buffy whispered desperately for any advice from her Watcher.

"I'm afraid I have to disagree with you Ms Pryce, Buffy is the active Slayer since she is the last one to receive the Essence." Giles stated as he tried to figure out what the woman was talking about. While he had dismissed her argument out of hand it did draw his mind back to the conclusions that he had drawn when Buffy had died at the hands of the Master, while there had never been any indication that the Essence had been passed on. Now he wasn't so sure.

"My god, you really are an idiot." Linda declared. "Have you not read any of the Council verdicts on the case of Kendra Young, the Slayer called after the one before you died in the incident with the Master? Kendra was called and did an admirable job for several months before her life was tragically cut short. Afterwards Faith was then called."

"I haven't heard anything about another Slayer, it might be some sort of demonic trick to make us divided in our efforts to support the True Slayer." Giles alleged. "It wouldn't be the first time that a false Slayer had been discovered and used to fracture the Council."

"My god, it's no wonder you were exiled from England." Linda stated aghast at the sheer denseness of the man in front of her.

"I'm the Slayer." Buffy reiterated, stomping her foot on the ground for emphasis.

"And now you look like a child doing that." Faith snickered. She wasn't at all concerned about this, Linda having explained it all in full detail months ago to her.

"Mr. Giles, Buffy Summers was the Slayer when she was called in Los Angeles two years ago but after her death via the Master she became nothing more than an anomaly." Ms Pryce said calmly. She knew that Faith was the Slayer, having confirmed it independently through her own sources.

"I am not an ANOMALY!" Buffy shouted.

"This is not the first time that the Slayer Essence was not completely passed on to the appropriate successor, though in every other instance the cause was eventually found to be demonic in origin. There may have been some interference with the transfer of the Essence due to her close proximity to the Hellmouth, Xander you were there do you remember anything out of the ordinary?"

"Well after I gave her CPR…"

"Angel gave me CPR!" Buffy declared firmly.

"Actually, he didn't. I did. Cause according to him vampires don't have any breath to give. Which is kind of strange since he needs to draw in air to talk." Xander mentioned offhand, only know figuring out the strangeness of Angels statement from back then.

"You're lying!"

"Why would I bother, I really don't give a damn."

"You just want to take credit for something Angel did so it would impress me."

"Oh, for crying out loud. Would you stop acting like everything in the world revolves around you?" O'Neill declared frustratingly. "We've got bigger things to worry about right. Mr. Giles, I'm asking you politely to please assist us in locating Angelus so he can be destroyed."

"Angel is a good man!" Buffy shouted.

"Lord, here we go again." O'Neill muttered looking to the ceiling as if searching for divine intervention.

"Angel is gone, the soul was released from the curse two weeks ago, don't you remember? I called you to warn you guys about it." Xander asked, baffled by the continuing defense of the vampire responsible for dozens of deaths around town.

"Of course I remember, you were ranting about how 'Angelus' had returned. What a crock." Buffy waved dismissively.

Feeling a bit of apprehension in the pit of his stomach Xander found his mind moving towards a question that actually frightened him. "Buffy are you still seeing Angel?"

"Of course, he is my boyfriend."


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: So it begins.

Xander stormed through the base, causing every soldier in the base to quickly move out of his path lest they be shoved out of his way. The rage evident in his eyes was enough to make them nervous, even the seasoned soldiers among them were cautious when it came to Xander and even more so when they finally figured out just how much more powerful he was than all of them. They had all seen the sparring bouts between him and Faith, and the easy way that he had quickly overpowered her with nothing more than brute force. Faith's strength was a source of great discussion, his on the other hand was the source of fear since they'd seen him grab her in midair and slam her down into a sparring mat so hard that it had left a dent. And the rumor mill had it that his armor actually amplified his strength greatly.

The rest of the group, minus Majors Carter and Castleman, and Lieutenant Hailey, followed along behind Xander each of them looking like they were truly pissed off.

Xander made his way over to the access hatch to his private armory, where his MJOLNIR armor was stored, shouting orders as he moved. "Team leaders, briefing in fifteen minutes. All teams draw full combat kit and prepare to move out. NOW people."

Colonel O'Neill glanced at the soldiers, they were looking a bit confused since the last orders they had received were that they were standing down for the night and now it was prep for combat. Deciding to nip any problems in the bud he amended Xander's orders. "Draw heavy weapons people, we've got some new Intel and we have to act on it quickly before it becomes useless."

Doing as they were told the marines began to pull on their combat kit and prepped the weapons that they would need for the mission.

Seeing that things were well in hand O'Neill walked over to the armory room that Xander had disappeared into and after a moment to think up something to say he ducked inside. He found Harris stripping out of his BDU's, putting on the skinsuit that a Spartan had to wear under the MJOLNIR armor.

"Wanna tell me what's got you so brassed off?" O'Neill asked, not at all concerned about the nudity issue, decades of military service having expunged any nudity taboo's he might have had had rather ruthlessly over the years.

"For over two week's we've been hunting Angelus and every other goddamn night she's been spreading her legs for that monster." Harris raged as he zipped up the skinsuit and began to slowly pull on the armor.

"Ok, now you want to tell me the real reason?" O'Neill questioned. He could understand Harris' anger over the blonde's stupidity but in all honesty the girl was just that, a child. She didn't have any experience in facing off against an enemy with centuries to learn patience and how to manipulate you from behind the lines using psychology to turn you into what you feared the most.

"I should have checked, we found Harmony's body for Christ's sake, I should have checked on Cordy, but I didn't!" Xander nearly shouted. The rage evident on his face was something that O'Neill could understand. No one wanted to think that they might have made a mistake that would cost someone they cared about their life and Harris was feeling that guilt in spades right now.

"You don't know for sure that she's been killed." Jack offered.

"No one's seen her since Christmas break started and if he grabbed Harmony he had to have grabbed Cordy, he has to know that I didn't even like Harmony all that much. It was a clue and I never even picked up on it." Xander cried as he felt the first sign of tears beginning to build up behind his eyes. He couldn't even begin to imagine the sorts of things that Angelus might have done to her with so much time to work with.

"You made a mistake, you're only human." Jack stated calmly knowing that the kid was looking for an argument, something, anything to let off a bit of steam. Unfortunately for him that would be the worst thing he could do, the US military and for that matter most militaries around the globe understood that when a soldier is looking for a way to release emotional steam off physically its best to stand by them but not to be confrontational. Either that or take them out on a training course and let them run themselves down till they could talk, unfortunately there wasn't one available.

"I should have known!"

"You're not perfect." Cortana said as she joined the conversation, having been listening in on the intercom in the armory room.

"…" Xander just stood there on the platform, half in the armor, the heavy servos locking the leg portions together.

"You make mistakes, you learn from them and you move on. That's the nature of the game kid. It sucks but unless you're hiding a time machine around here somewhere I don't see a lot of options." Jack commented. He knew that his tone was probably going to aggravate the kid a lot but this was war, they couldn't afford to take the time to hold his hand through these times.

Xander leaned forward and grabbed onto a nearby railing set up for him to get his balance when getting into and out of the armor. The muscles in his back and arms tensed as he felt the unbelievable amount of rage flowing through his system, the bar he was holding onto back to groan as the metal slowly twisted in his grip.

"If you go off on this mission letting your anger get the best of you you'll just get a lot of us killed, hell in fact you can go it alone. I won't let any of my people go with you if your not going to listen to any commonsense. But if you can let go of your rage then we can sit down and figure out a sensible plan of attack and we'll take this bastard down." Jack said calmly. 'Walking a fine line here, push too much and he'll snap, not enough and we'll be walking into a suicide mission.'

"What do you want from me?" Xander shouted as he tried to get his rage under control.

"To accept the fact that you made a mistake, it happens, and to move on. There's too much at stake to have you wallowing in self misery."

"A mistake?" Xander spun around and glared at the older man.

"As bad as it sounds there is nothing you can do, you have to accept that."

"So where do we go from here?" Xander asked as he turned back to suiting up in his armor. He knew that O'Neill was saying the right things but he just couldn't make the connection in his mind, his heart, his rage and his emotions were just conflicting with the training he'd received from John's personality integration and it made it hard to accept that he'd screwed up on this level.

"Time to take off the kid's gloves. Up to this point we've only been doing small scale hit and run strikes, I think its time we brought in the big stuff." Jack smirked as he mentally reviewed through the inventory of equipment that they had on sight.

"What are you thinking?" Cortana asked curiously.

"The Sunnydale National Guard depot has been reopened and we have another two hundred soldiers from there that we can draw on."

"Guardsmen are no better than cannon fodder, save them the trouble and order them to shoot themselves." Xander commented as he sealed the chest piece together. The helmet clicking into place a moment later and a second after that the charging platform that he was standing on jumpstarted the armor, the shield drawing power from the newly repaired fusion pack and growing in strength by the second.

"Can't believe that we managed to move them in without you figuring it out. Their not guardsmen, their Delta Force." Jack smirked.

101010

President Thomas Whitmore leaned back in his luxurious office chair and stared out the window. 'What I wouldn't give to be out there at Groom Lake.' The first reports had just crossed his desk indicating that the original two Death Gliders that had been recovered from the attack by Apophis were starting to generate enough real results to begin testing on new equipment installed on some test beds. Whitmore could almost feel the call of the air screaming through his blood, telling him to make whatever excuses he could just to get up into the wild blue yonder one more time. Unfortunately he knew deep down that his days of flying for pleasure were over, he had too many pressing duties to keep him tied to his desk for the foreseeable future.

"Sir?"

Frowning slightly, Whitmore turned his head to look over at the Secret Service agent who had just entered the room. "I thought I asked to not be disturbed?"

"Yes sir, you did but you also said to remind you that you have a meeting down in the War room five minutes before it started." Agent Garcia respectfully pointed out.

"Thank you." President Whitmore replied as he carefully grabbed the needed files off his desk and walked over to where his detail stood waiting to escort him to the War room. Even after being President for going on three years he still found it ridiculous that he needed a bodyguard escort inside of the White House.

Entering the secure room buried deep underground Whitmore returned the salutes of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and nodded a greeting to the rest of the National Command Authority group, which had grown to include the Vice President, the National Security Advisor and the Secretary of Defense. The quartet, which included the president, were responsible for insuring the continuation and safe running of the federal government so it was rare for them all to be in one location at a time. Technically it was a breach of policy, violating the designated survivor policy that had been put into play ever since the threat of the Goa'uld had been quantified with the discovery of their mobile assets. Namely the warships that could show up on Earth's doorstep at a moments notice.

"Mr. President." General Theodore Miles said.

"General, you called this meeting, what's the word?"

"We recovered a ship from PX2-768." Miles began.

"Good news, but not enough to bring us all here." Whitmore interrupted. He had far too many other things to do today, namely to try and hold onto his majority in Congress. Too many people were starting to grumble about the number of changes that he'd railroaded through them lately. If he wasn't careful the government could grind to a halt as they began to argue amongst themselves during the time when they needed to present a solidified front to the enemies that were starting to assemble at the gates.

"We recovered a Sto'lek class transport, it was fully loaded with approximately twenty thousand tons of processed naquadah. Plus in addition to that windfall we also managed to recover three more sarcophagi, while they still present a hefty risk to anyone who overuses it we now have the ability to at least heal some of the more serious wounded that have returned from their missions."

"That's great news, and now for the bad news correct?" Whitmore prompted. Inwardly he was celebrating. That shipment of ore could be put to good use on Nova Terra and hopefully the first generation Naquadah reactor's that Major Carter had designed could be put into service and a few of them might be brought back to Earth for use. If nothing else the scientific advances being done on Nova Terra were going to have to be filtered back to Earth sometime soon. Harris's release of mass producible fusion power plants were something that could be built by modern technology if given enough time and time was the one element he didn't think they were going to have a lot of in the coming days.

"The first elements of Delta Force have been fully deployed to Nova Terra, and thanks to all the materials that Mr. Harris has so generously released to us we have some concrete data to start feeding into the computers. We might be able to have a Cairo class station on within the next eight months, its presence in orbit of Nova Terra will greatly increase the security of the planet, not to mention with all of the starship information we now possess from him and a variety of other sources we just might be able to field two starships within six to seven months."

"I thought we were still a year away from even laying down a hull?" Vice President Nathan Peterson questioned. He had seen the latest reports from the shipyards that were still under heavy construction out on Nova Terra and he didn't recall them saying that they had any real free berthing space.

"We have one slip ready, another about to come online next week and with all the data we've been accumulating we've had people from NASA and the Bureau of ship design running constant scenarios ever since we started getting our hands on actual hardware. A few of them are sci-fi geeks and have been doing this stuff on their own time with their personal computers so we swiped a lot of stuff, designs, hull geometry's and other stuff directly from their personal projects." Miles replied. His staff was currently looking over the proposed plan to scrap the current construction schedule of the dreadnaught class in favor of producing four or five ships from the material to offer maximum diversity and effectiveness.

"Alright, and what ship design are you currently preparing to green light?" Whitmore asked.

"The Olympus class corvette sir. It's designed to grant us the maximum number of hulls within the shortest amount of time."

"Why does that sound familiar General?"

"The name was stolen from a popular television series, along with the general outward appearance." Miles winced as he offered up the explanation. He could still remember the outraged shouts that the Admiral had sent his way when he had finally come across that interesting little tidbit of information.

"Not to sound too disparaging to whatever person finished the design but is the ship actually suitable for the kind of combat that we're going to be putting it in?" Whitmore questioned.

"Sir, I understand your reluctance, but after talking it over with the design team they've assured me that while the outward appearance is that of a hull design stolen from a fictional source, the underlying technology is all sound and tested in a variety of combat scenarios."

"We're going to get our asses sued off." Peterson muttered just loud enough to carry to almost every man at the table.

'Must have watched the show at least once.' Miles thought as he tried to come up with another defending argument for the ship design. It was a good little ship in his mind; maximum versatility and weapons packed into a hull design under 300 meters. Already he could see a dozen different uses for the ship.

"Turning our attention away from the overzealous efforts of a devoted fan, what's the latest on the supernatural front, aka Sunnydale."

"The latest reports coming from Colonel O'Neill and Harris, we really need to give him a rank, have been very disturbing. The town is infested even beyond our worst probability studies and from the looks of it even Harris didn't think it was going to be this bad. For the past two weeks they'd fought a number of running engagements in a variety of terrains including, parks, tunnels underneath the town both natural and artificial, in and out of business, in people's houses and a dozen other locations. How they've managed to keep this a secret I'll never know." General Finlay replied. He had been in the USMC so he knew how deadly things could get on the ground, especially when you were trying to take steps to keep everything from the general public.

"Just how bad is it?'

"They went in with a little over fifty men on that first night, plus a few extras that were going to be assigned as a rearguard over at the Guard depot. Over the past two weeks they've taken approximately fifty percent causalities from the various assaults, and even with the constant reinforcements that we've been sending they don't have the strength to hold onto any of the ground taken."

"Dammit." Whitmore swore. This came as quite a shock to the others in the room; in the years since they'd known the man they had not once known him to actually resort to vulgarity. The Kinsey situation had come close but even that had only resulted in some pacing and jaw grinding.

"At this moment we're waiting on word from the recruiting trip that Harris went on. He apparently felt it necessary to break confidentially on Nova Terra and bring in two civilians, along with their families. The man is a walking liability." Secretary of Defense John Rolfe argued. "We need to have him sign a binding contract that restricts his activities to those that are authorized so we can avoid his damnable unauthorized activities, like the treasonous act of his dispensing the database of his to the Russians and Chinese. He had no right to do so until we had the opportunity to examine it for breaches of national security."

Whitmore sighed and leaned back in the comfortable chair. 'It's going to be a long day.' Even as he did so the Joint Chiefs began to argue loudly, some in defense of Mr. Harris and some against him.

10101010

Xander carefully walked up the stairs into the second floor conference room. It had become the defacto meeting place for the group over the past two weeks, the large screen monitors and computer stations in the room giving it the look of a command and control center, which in effect it was. His armor magnified his strength so every step he took was taken with care, sine he didn't want to be stomping any holes into the flooring and take a sudden trip to the ground floor.

"Colonel, how long until the first Delta elements get into position?"

"They should be in position in the next twenty minutes, they're still kitting out for tunnel fighting."

"Good. Send a message saying that we'll meet up with their squad at beacon Echo-48. The rest each have their assault route already so we'll continue as planned" Xander replied as he took his place at the head of the table. For the past two weeks whenever the teams had went down into the tunnels they had dropped off radio beacons at several locations to mark navpoints on their maps. Plus the beacons also doubled as radio boosters to get around any interference that might affect the comm. systems that the groups were carrying.

"So this is it? We go down, kick some vamp ass and don't come back up till it's over?" Faith questioned.

"Yup."

"Bout fucking time." Faith stated succinctly

O'Neill just smirked at the teens words. 'To have the belief of immortality that came with youth once more.'

"And what if he runs before you get there??" Janna queried from her place at the table. As she asked the question several team leaders walked in from the door and took their seats around what had come to be called the war table.

"Simple enough, most of the tunnels that lead to safety have been collapsed, by us of course and the few that weren't are the primary assault corridors that we're taking. Anyway he chooses to run he's going to run right into us and I don't care how evil this bastard is, a mouth full of shotgun will take the fight out of anyone." Jack smiled evilly

"He won't run." Xander stated.

Everyone in the room glanced at him, wondering how he could be so confident of that but after a moment just shrugged and went back to planning the operation. Assault corridors had to be assigned to the various squads and units that were heading down into the tunnels beneath Sunnydale and more importantly mission objectives had to be assigned so that they knew what they were doing.

"I'm sure all of you have had a chance at least once over the past two weeks to go over the portfolios on the vampires we believe to have returned to Angelus' side but the main part is that Angelus has a superiority complex that could fill this room. He'll think he can win and that gives us our best chance of finishing this." Xander commented as he brought up the latest version of the tunnel map.

The screens showed hundreds of tunnels that crisscrossed there way beneath the sleepy little town of Sunnydale. A great deal many of them glowed the bright amber color of those that were known to be in use by demons, others were circled with blue indicating that they had been sealed off permanently by demo charges and others were blue showing the assault corridors that were going to be used. Each team had been given a different route into the main cavern and thanks to the advantage given to them by modern weapons, and communications, it should be sufficient enough to overwhelm the opposition that Angelus could have come up with.

"What I want to know is what are we going to do about Buffy?" Faith questioned. She was completely stunned that a Slayer would actually have a physical relationship with a vampire. For dozens of various reasons but most of them boiled down to a few specific reasons, namely the fact that no matter how you might look at it, a vampire was nothing more than a reanimated corpse. 'Who the hell would willingly spread for a corpse, and get off on it enough to keep going back for more?'

"What do you think should be done with her?" O'Neill asked carefully.

Xander sat stoically in his armor not giving any indication that he was even listening to the conversation. It became rather obvious that one of the group had filled in the team leaders of the particulars of Buffy's rather blond moment and that they were not happy at all with her.

"Should be shot for crimes against mankind."

"Lock her up, she's a danger to the rest of the human race."

"Do we even have the authority to do anything about it?" Sgt Major Gale questioned. The two team leaders who had been the most vocal were not surprisingly from the two squads that had been hit the hardest since arriving in Sunnydale, having taken near 90 percent causalities after being overrun by a group of Were's hiding out in the tunnels.

"She slept with a vampire, god knows what else she's done. Hell she could be feeding him Intel on our movements for all we know! She should be shot!" Lieutenant Harder shouted.

"She's a kid, she has no formal training and yet you want to just shoot her for crimes that are technically not even crimes. The only thing we might be able to get her on is desecration of a corpse, and even that is one hell of a stretch." Gale argued.

"At the very least she can't be allowed to run free, who knows what she could do. Colonel we have to at least send this on up the chain and let the Joint Chiefs figure this out." Lieutenant Smyth stated firmly.

"Agreed." Xander interjected. His emotions were running rampant, the few remaining feelings that he might have had for Buffy were being slowly buried under the weight of his memories of John's Spartan training. Sometimes it was difficult to separate his mind from what remained of John's. Not to mention over the past two weeks he had grown quite fond of Faith, her take life by the balls attitude was growing on him.

"I'll send a report off and we'll let NCA handle the fallout." O'Neill agreed. His own personal feelings were to just remove the girl from town, lock her up in a psych ward where she'd get the treatment she so obviously needed. It was obvious that no one had ever seen how her actions as the Slayer had affected her personality, and not for the better.

"Alright, down to business." Cortana piped in her voice coming through the speakers in Xander's helmet. "Latest combat reports have been all pieced together and all available Intel puts Angelus at having a small army of demons under his command. At the very least he's going to have enough vampires to equal us in numbers, plus that's not taking into account any of the other demons that our sweeps haven't caught."

As she spoke she manipulated the computer screens to show the possible locations of vampire nests that would be encountered on the trip to the main cavern section. Two other screens popped up with the latest Intel on various demon races that were confirmed to have entered into the area. The word had gotten out to the demon community at large that the Spartan was stationed in Sunnydale, that having been well known for months, but the knowledge that he was increasing his numbers were enough to draw in some of the more warrior minded demon races.

"The fact that we encountered a Var'tos'ish over in grid epsilon eight, which means the Council reports of them being extinct is very suspect, means without real time intelligence we could encounter just about anything down there. After that particular encounter I began searching for any more caverns that could possibly contain one, and I've come across at least six possible locations. If even one of those locations has one of them there then we might have a problem since two of them are located close to the assault routes that we've planned out and we don't have time to adjust them." Cortana continued.

Xander listened with half a mind on the briefing; the other half was busy berating him for his failure to insure Cordelia's safety. 'I should have checked, I should have been there.'

"Xander, you ready to go?" The voice broke through his internal defenses. Quickly bringing his full attention back to the matter at hand he found Faith staring at him with a worried look in her eyes. Glancing around the table he noticed that she wasn't the only one.

"Yup, good to go." Xander stated.

"Good, lets get going. Delta should be in position for their breach by now." O'Neill said. 'The kid's on the edge, won't take much to push him over the line. Next time I talk to Hammond and Fraiser we're going to have a little chat about getting some head doc's for this group.'

101010101010

Giles sat in his chair nursing a tumbler of scotch. 'How could I have been so wrong?' The thought plagued him constantly as he researched through every tome that eh had on the Slayer Essence. The Watchers Council had existed for thousands of years, long enough for its origins to be lost in the depths of time, and yet it had preserved. Its libraries surviving the destruction of fortress, bastion and even the wars of Mankind to be passed onto the next generation of scholars and warriors who took up the calling.

"But why would we have nothing on the Essence!" Giles roared throwing the tumbler across the room taking some small satisfaction from hearing it shatter against the wall.

Slumping back in his seat Giles angrily turned his attention back to the letter, having recently arrived from England, which lay in front of him. The words damning and his mind was unable to comprehend the severity of his mistake.

'It is the opinion of this Council that Slayer Summers after having perished has retained her Slayer powers through some currently unknown action. It may be that the speed of the rescue affected by one Alexander Harris allowed a portion of it to remain behind. Current records do not show this event having happened before in recorded history, insufficient knowledge of life saving techniques were known before the 20th century to allow it to occur.

"Kendra Young was the known successor to the Slayer Essence, her tragic death so soon after calling has allowed another to be given the Essence. One Faith Lehane, current ward of Senior Field, American Branch, Watcher Linda Pryce.'

101010101010

"On site." Lt. Harder's voice filtered through the encrypted comm. link.

"That's the final team." Faith whispered unnecessarily. Even though they were out in the open so to speak, the entire street was deserted. Xander having purchased a great deal of real estate in the town's industrial sector over the past few weeks which created a large buffer zone surrounding the base.

Each team had been given its own assault corridor, backed up by members from Delta who while purported to be the best were not yet up to speed on tactics to be used against demonic enemies. It had rankled their Captain something fierce to find out his men were considered rookies by the more experienced members of the units already assigned to Harris and O'Neill.

Xander gave no indication that he had heard the comment Faith made. Plucking a grenade from his belt clip he nodded at the private who stood ready with the crowbar.

"Prepare to breach." O'Neill ordered as he raised his own P90 assault rifle.

The private quickly snapped the manhole out of its recessed slot and grabbed the metal cover dragging it out of the way as fast as he could.

"Fire in the hole!" Xander shouted as he tossed the grenade down the tube.

The deafening blast was enough to make both Xander and Faith wince, their boosted senses savaged by the detonation. Xander at least had the partial dampening affect granted by his armor but it wasn't on fully, he needed to be able to hear any sounds that emanated from the tunnel in case anything survived the blast.

Taking a second to glance around and make sure that everyone was ready Xander moved forward, letting gravity taking over and fell through the tube like a stone. His legs easily flexing to take the impact as he landed. Spotting a vampire trying to weakly crawl away, blood dripping from his eyes and ears. Xander stepped forward and stamped down, his armored foot snapping through his neck cleanly dusting the demon with contemptuous ease. "Clear!"

One by one the rest of the squad dropped down or slid down the tube's access ladder.

"Sierra Golf Charlie One Niner to Delta One Niner." O'Neill spoke into his throat mike.

"Delta One Niner. Go."

"Sierra Golf Charlie One Niner moving forward, meet up at beacon Echo-four eight."

"Understood. Delta One Niner out."

Xander stood from his crouch at the head of the squad. His armor and shields making him the logical choice for point. Not that anyone would dispute his having called the position before they had entered the tunnels. "Move out."

101010101010

"Master, they come!" A fledgling babbled as he skidded to a stop in the middle of the chamber. For a moment he was truly terrified that he was about to be given his final death for having interrupted his masters favorite pastime but that quickly passed as he saw the pleased look that passed over the Master Vampires demonic face.

"Good." Angelus smirked as he slowly stood letting Cordelia curl back up into the fetal position. Giving her a final caress that brought a shudder to her body he laughed before leaving the room.

"The Spartan comes." Angelus yelled. His voice easily carrying through the vast cavern, the reply was enough to nearly deafen him.

Hundreds of vampires, master and fledgling alike, stood throughout the room that was nearly full to the point of their inability to move. Members from dozens of different demon species had come, some to fight the Spartan for the respect such a kill would entail, others because they were commanded to. Polgarans, vampires, werewolves, mages, and necromancers all joined together in one cause. To destroy the one known as the Spartan and gain the glory that would come with that act.

101010101010

"Your journey is complete. You must learn to let go."

"I don't want to die, I'm only seventeen." She sobbed.


End file.
